'I'm stressed about my holiday - I'm bad at relaxing!'

I advise a reader on how to get the most from their vacation

Photo by Stefan Hale on Unsplash

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I think this problem is extremely relatable. I hope you find this advice useful. If you have a Dear Daisy question, email creativeconfidenceclinic@gmail.com

And if you’d like a genuinely relaxing vacation, on Sunday I’m going to be telling you about the trip of a lifetime that I’m hosting next year, and inviting you to join me. More on that, very soon…

Dear Daisy,

This isn’t a creativity problem exactly, but it feels like one. I’m about to go on holiday, and I’m so bad at relaxing. I’m so lucky to be going on this trip, and I feel so guilty for being anxious about it already. I’m going to France for 10 days with my husband, our 10 year old, our 12 year old, and another family. We all get on really well, we’ve been to this house before, and I’m not anticipating too much extra stress in terms of schedules, packing, meal times etc.

Weirdly, what I’m dreading is the down time. Sitting around the pool, relaxing, letting go and letting everyone do their own thing. It feels as though it’s been a stressful year, so far – nothing major, but lots of minor things piling up. I badly want to rest. But I’ve forgotten how! And I’m not great at it under normal circumstances. My fantasy is that I come back rested, refreshed and excited to start some creative projects in the Autumn. The reality is that I won’t be able to concentrate on my book, and I’ll start obsessing about what I should be doing, what might go wrong, why I’m not writing right now– I can see myself obsessively googling writing courses on my phone when everyone else is having a lovely time with each other. Do you have any advice or strategies for making sure that I get what I need from this holiday, and that I don’t drive myself crazy?

Love

Frazzled Vacationer