The excitement of summer vacation fills the air in our communities. School is out; vacations are planned, many changes abound. Spring has awakened the flowers; hay is high in the fields, farm animals and wild creatures are tending their new babies; It is a time of new beginnings.

For family caregivers, summer can be a good thing. Perhaps you will be one of those who will benefit from the availability of young people to help you this summer; or free yourself from the stress of dealing with school schedules while caring for someone. You can get time off for yourself with all this extra help available.

On the other hand, summer can simply mean more mouths to feed during the day, more clothes to wash, more stress. Maybe you’d like to go on vacation, but you know in your heart that even a full day to yourself is out of the question.

I want to help you celebrate the wonders of summer, even with a busy schedule and overwhelming responsibilities. You’ve heard me say this before, take a few minutes for yourself to consider your personal wants and needs.

1. Determine one thing that would help make your days and weeks go more smoothly; just one thing. What is it that makes you take a short breath? Make up your mind for one thing.
2. Plan a specific time to do that thing for at least an hour each week. Schedule it and stick to that schedule as much as possible.
3. Call this time, even an hour, your vacation. Plan it, celebrate it and look forward to next week for another ‘holiday’.
I’m sure some of you are thinking that this is too simple and may not be of any value to your already hectic lifestyle. I’m just asking you to try it, please. I also didn’t think it had value until I was pushed to the limit and had to find even the smallest event to look forward to each week.

Consider these appetizers as fun vacation ideas of an hour or more, if you can do without it.

1. Do you have a friend or relative that you always want to call but never do? Why not make that your destination for the next week? During the week, as he or she comes to mind, write down her thoughts about him or her, perhaps questions she would like to ask or things she wants to tell you. Find as many positive things as you can to write down and get ready to have fun with this call. Remember, it’s not an interview, it’s a vacation!
2. Do you have a destination in mind, another state you would like to visit? Schedule that later in the month so you can ask them for a brochure. On vacation day, prepare yourself an appropriate snack and enjoy the scenery while browsing through their catalogue. There’s nothing wrong with picking a few favorite spots for that one day when you have enough time to visit them.
3. What is there in your life that you would like to achieve for yourself? Write a story or a poem? Draw or color? make a craft? Start now with your vacation day. Start with the dream and build on it.
A reminder: choose only one thing for your first mini-vacation. You may want to use that option for several weeks and that’s fine. Have fun and let me know about you.