vacation lessons?

Yesterday I had an idea about a new line of work, or maybe it’s just an additional service: teaching people how to be on vacation.

My friend Kay is staying with me this week. This woman I barely knew but who quickly became a good friend, had opened up her home to me all FOUR times I went to Austin over the past nine months. So when I told her I was thinking about canceling my trip to Croatia, and she told me she wanted to take a vacation in July, we decided she would come visit me!

I didn’t realize though until the second day she was here what a big deal it was. I didn’t realize that this woman was a stranger to vacationing. She’d traveled for workshops. But getting on a plane and going somewhere like here just for fun, just for vacation, just to be— that was new. And that is huge.

I think I’d be good at teaching people how to be on vacation. How to relax. How to do nothing. And how to just do whatever you feel like doing whenever you feel like doing it. I’m a pro.

Actually, I don’t even have to do much of anything. I just offer the space and my own calm vibe. The allowance. The encouragement. The extreme peace and quiet of this place. The “You can do anything! Or, you don’t have to do anything!” People who aren’t used to this will either learn how much they love it, or it’ll drive them so crazy that they’ll be happy to return to their busy, high-paced, stressful lives. Ha!

So I thought maybe I could invite people to come stay with me and I’d teach them how to vacate. But then I remembered how sensitive I am to other people’s vibes and that I require far too much space of my own for that. At least for now. But maybe, just maybe, maybe some day I won’t require so much space or feel so affected by the constant company of others. Maybe some day. Or maybe not! Maybe it’s just another idea. One of many, so many. So many ideas, and I’m enjoying them all just as they are. Just as ideas.

© 2009 Rebecca Clio Gould. All rights reserved.