Depression is a bitch. It zaps all the energy from you and excitement from the things that used to make you happy. The perfect example: Me. My favorite place in the world. Debating weather to go.
Captiva Island, Florida is my home away from home. Ive been traveling down there to the warmth and the waves since before I could wave (no seriously I waved to a stranger for the first time when I was there). It was my happy place. Where I could read, swim, and shell to my hearts content. All awhile surrounded by sunshine and family. Yet, with this burden of depression weighing me down, the idea of flying down this year is nearly impossible to swallow.
Rather than list the reasons I don’t want to go this year, I’m going to write a list of productive things I can accomplish and work on while there. One of the arguments given to me for going is that if I’m going to feel crumby either way I may as well change the scenery. So, I may as well take advantage of that scenery.
Productive things to do while on vacation:
Read
I don’t know about you but for me, adding reading into my regular schedule is something I may wish I could do but put no effort into as by the end of the day I’d rather watch a new tv show than flip a new page. While on vacation, however, the need is built in. While lying in the sun is great, my easily restless tendency gets the best of me if I don’t multitask.
Take that ability (and I do mean actual ability to focus long enough) to the next level of productivity by choosing motivational books. For someone who has never read a full book of my own free will that wasn’t fantasy or fiction, this part may prove to be a bit difficult. However, if I set the goal to read three chapters from a book that can benefit me as a person each day, I believe I will not only benefit from the literature but from the discipline.
Pictures
With the tropical island weather, palm trees, waves, beaches and beauty, how can I resist taking quality content for my instagram, blog, and obviously myself!
Preemptively I’ve looked into how to take the best photos Found the best advice to use golden hour timing, rule of thirds, and the experience I don’t yet have. But thats fine as we all have to start somewhere.
Blog
We all know that when traveling wifi can be unreliable. In order to try to get ahead/ catch up with blog material, a good course of action with regards too many hours spent laying in the sun with not much to do, is create a document with articles I wish to post. Whether this be blog post ideas or actual article. I may not have the full ability to post them while away but I will at the very least have a lot to write about.
Get some sun!
If you are anywhere sunny I highly recommend you spend time in the sun (as if you weren’t already planing too). Sunshine and laying out in that warmth can help you in multiple ways.
The first and most obvious ways is Vitamin D. Forget extra orange juice and supplements and add this crucial nutrients into your system with the help of the sun. Vitamin D is proven to help muscles, improve blood pressure, protect against inflammation, and improve brain function!
Next, mental health can benefit from sunshine as well. The suns rays work their magic and help to help improve depression, seasonal affective disorder, and sleeping quality. Getting more sun even has proven to help weight loss!
And the last benefit I will mention is that tanner look you will have when returning home to the cold weather, you can keep a bit of the sun with you as a reminder!
Workout
I’ve always been somewhat opposed to working out. I know it gives me energy and at times it has proven to be an amazing way to deal with emotions, however, the dread leading up to going often keeps me from accomplishing the task. In Florida, on the other hand, I don’t so much have that issue. Workouts seem to be built into the schedule given the resort property that makes for a beautiful (LONG) bike ride, hours spent in the pool, walks along the waves, and if that weren’t enough, refreshing yoga classes are provided by the resort!
Future Fields 