small pieces of summer.

here are some small summer pieces to look back on.

first vacation day.

last vacation day.

i really enjoyed this summer!

the importance of prioritizing recovery time this summer.

hello, it’s summer time here in sweden and that means vacation time for me.

i always think that the weeks before vacation just comes and goes very quickly. when the last work day is finished and i turn off the computer, i imagine myself a glittering transparent wall in front of me. some sort of passage way opens up and i go right through it into ”vacation world”. lol. and the ”work world” is right behind me. and i can’t access it anymore.

for me, visualizing like this helps me to mentally drop my work thoughts and allow myself to focus on the summer weeks in front of me full of calmness. i always want to schedule as much passive and active recovery time as possible with room for spontaneous activities. i feel stressed out having a planned out vacation.

i go with my method:

1. break - a break from my normal workweek routines (work, music, videos, etc)

2. variation - new routines and activities i don’t do when i work (painting, reading, etc)

3. recovery - rest, relax and have fun!

to avoid stress and work fatigue, i think it’s important to find your own suitable balance of recovery time and summer activities and projects. what you see as recovery time depends on who you are as a person. if you feel relaxed and happy after your vacation, i think you had space for rest, but if you come back to work all grumpy, stressed-out and feeling like you didn’t have vacation, i think it’s worth some evaluation.

• but how do you know what works for you?

• what is relaxation and self-care for me?

• what makes me feel good?

• what is passive and active recovery time for me?

i think it all comes down to experimenting. what makes you feel relaxed and happy? an ice cream with a friend? swimming? relaxing with a nice book? playing video games? making fruit juice? painting? nature walks?

so don’t let your vacation be filled with obligations and achievements by cramming in a lot of activities and projects. let your free time be filled with recovery and joyful activities you want to do.

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disclaimer: something to someone is something else to someone else.

if you get inspired by my words and want to apply anything to your own life then that’s wonderful. if you don’t agree with me then that’s okay too. no hard feelings. i’m not trying to convince anyone of anything, i just want to write about interesting topics because it’s just a pure simple pleasure of mine. thank you for reading. :3

camping season has begun.

happy easter or whatever you celebrate or not this time of year. it’s finally that time of year where i go on overnight camping trips in forests around my city, most preferably by small lakes and places where i can make a fire. i love making fires..

i use to have trouble sleeping when it’s too chilly outside but i managed to get som hours of sleep even though my face was pretty cold (+1°C).

the best thing is waking up in a warm sleeping bag and hearing the birds chirping.

nature is truly an antidote for stress. it lowers the blood pressure and stress hormone levels. it reduces nervous system arousal and enhance immune system function. it can reduce anxiety and improve your mood.

i always feel better after staying in nature and i sleep like a baby the day after. it only takes two hours to feel a difference. if you spend at least two hours in nature you drastically improve your health and well-being.

i didn’t get the chance to see any northen lights but there were no clouds, a nice full-moon and windless weather.