I just got home from a beautiful week in Cancun, Mexico with my family last night.
We enjoyed views like this one…and this one. I rediscovered my love for reading and kicked off 2015 by reading four books. I sipped on fruity drinks, relaxed by the pool, took a beachfront yoga class…and even did a few headstands in the sand.
Want to know what I didn’t do? Write. This post is the first thing I’ve written in more than seven days. Totally weird for me.
Want to know what else I didn’t do? Brainstorm blog posts, plan or think too hard about anything, really.
It felt good…but strange.
Whenever I go on vacation, I always think I’m going to have an incredibly inspirational week. I have high hopes to return home with a list of blog posts to write, brilliant product ideas and more. After all, I’m in the midst of sun, sand, crashing waves and utter relaxation. The conditions for brainstorming and creation are perfect.
Right? Wrong. (For me, at least)
Every time, I come home, relaxed and sufficiently unwound, but almost always without the brilliant ideas I had hoped for.
This time, I went into vacation with little expectations on the creation and brainstorming front. Instead, I planned on giving myself space to breathe…and that’s exactly what I did.
I know that when I give myself that time precious time off from thinking, creating, promoting and doing, doing, doing, I actually will set myself up for success moving forward. (Like this idea? Click here to tweet it)
The ideas will come in time. The answers to my burning questions will come in time. The plans will unfold in time. I trust the universe on that one.
So, give yourself some slack. If you’re feeling overwhelmed or exhausted, take a little pressure off of yourself and give your mind some space to breathe.
I promise your mind, body and creativity will thank you…and be better for it.
Your Blog/Biz Will Survive Without You For A Week
Something else I learned on this vacation? Your blog/biz will survive without you for a week.
This getaway was the perfect way to show me that when you do the work ahead of time and set yourself up for success, you truly *can* take a week off from your blog/biz.
My blog actually had its highest traffic week (1,000 page views more than an average week) while I was away…and I welcomed nearly 40 new people to the Get Gutsy newsletter. I also received almost 20 Get Gutsy Essay Contest Entries while I was gone (what a treat to come home to!)
For the first time ever, I also used my email out of office to send traffic to my blog rather than using a standard “I’m away from email until X date.” It was fun to see the reactions from my more personal and creative out of office message. Here’s a screenshot of the out of office message in case you’re curious or want to try something similar in the future.
Perhaps it’s the same for you? Do you get great ideas while you’re away or do you prefer to give yourself space to breathe?
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