Some of us don’t realize how badly we need a vacation until we finally take it.

I had been telling myself (and everyone else) I didn’t need a break. "Energy is my superpower!" I yelled when people asked if I was exhausted. I was doing “so much.” Didn't I need to hit pause?

Nah, I shrugged. I love what I do so I can keep going! I want to keep going! This was truly and honestly the way I felt after two straight months of multiple events per week, a book tour that had me flying all over the country, countless in-studio interviews, media segments and podcasts, and oh yea, managing to somehow also run my consulting business and be a parent.

You know how this story goes, right? Mid-May, the morning after I finished recording my audiobook, I woke up with a sore throat. It wasn't the normal hoarseness from speaking five hours a day each day that week. Or maybe it was. But an urgent care visit revealed that not only did I have strep, I had an extra special case of antibiotic resistant strep. I was on a cocktail of medication for most of last month.

Meanwhile, my family had booked a trip to St. Lucia in February, which we had to reschedule due to work obligations. We just so happened to rebook that trip for the week following Memorial Day. What great timing, just as I was finally starting to feel better. Still, I hadn't learned.

“Great!” my brain yelled at me, “you can have time to restructure your next book proposal. You can use the plane ride to finally tackle that big client project. You can sit on the beach and write an article or two!”

I have always seen scheduled downtime as a means to more productivity. I have used most vacations as mini writing (or editing) retreats. But it's acceptable because I love writing, right? And what better place to write than overlooking a beach? It’s fine if it’s something I enjoy.

While that’s certainly true, it's also true that you can burn out even when you spend your time doing what you love. Which is why, last week, I challenged myself to do nothing considered traditionally "productive."

To read two books. To splash in the ocean with my family. To have a glass of rosé with lunch every day.

To only open social media once a day. To limit inbox checking to mornings and evenings. To only reply if it was absolutely urgent.

To not sit there and think of what more I could be getting done right now.

I'm ashamed to admit, this was SO hard.

I didn’t totally succeed. I tackled that client project on the plane ride down. The second day of vacation, I opened my laptop to do a few work-related things. While I was there, I started responding to emails. I logged on for more time than I intended, and once I realized I was getting sucked into the inbox-clean-out vortex, I shut my laptop for the rest of the week.

I did my best at something I’m not great at: resting. It took a few days, but I finally found myself enjoying true downtime - not turning vacations into mini-writing retreats or an opportunity to come up with my next big idea, but to truly rest.

As someone who has written quite a bit about how important it is to try to sustain work/life balance and mental wellness, I didn’t really prioritize these things for myself until I realized how badly I needed it.

Vacation isn't something you need to fly to a tropical island for. We can all infuse tiny moments of vacation into our everyday lives. So if May was mental health month, then I officially declare June “do the bare minimum” month. "Find moments of vacation" month. Let’s challenge ourselves to really and truly prioritize rest this month and be as unproductive as possible (without totally ruining our standing at our jobs and making sure we get our kids to school on time, etc. etc.)

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With that, I present your "moments of vacation" everyday to-do list. I challenge you to check off as many of these as you can this month:

✔️ Sleep late

✔️ Have dessert at lunch

✔️ Read a trashy novel that doesn’t make you any smarter

✔️ Ditch work and have a spa day with a colleague

✔️ Leave the laundry unfolded

✔️ Put your phone in another room for hours. If you’re feeling daring, leave your phone home when you go out.

✔️ Decline the unnecessary meeting and take a walk outside instead

✔️ Take a nap

✔️ Have a popsicle with a glass of champagne as a meal

✔️ Ditch work and go to the beach with a friend

✔️ Remove Slack from your phone after work hours

✔️ Have your second dessert of the day

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What would you add to this list?

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In the meantime, here’s what I’m:

I find the quiet vacationing trend hilarious - and honestly, if you can get away with it, more power to you. Just don’t try this if you really think you might put your job, your healthcare, or your rent payments at risk.

Shortsighted brands ignoring the over 40 market, leaving trillions on the table.

Which brings me to one of the books I read on vacation, which has been called the “first great perimenopause novel.” It was hilarious, insightful, sad, joyful, really weird at certain points, and so much more. I really enjoyed reading it. I also loved this NY Times​ profile of the author, Miranda July, which is a story about going rug shopping that’s not at all about the rug they buy.

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Mexico for electing its' first woman president. And everyone is wondering, how did they do this before the U.S.? Turns out, for the past few decades, Mexican citizens have been advocating for better representation of women in politics. Those efforts have been so successful, that in 2019, gender parity in all three branches of government became a constitutional requirement. It's a great reminder that waiting for progress doesn't get you very far, but demanding and advocating for change does.

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