How do you get the most relaxation and recovery from your holiday break?

Dear Aunty B,

Happy New year and all that. I wanted to ask you as a busy entrepreneur what you are going to do to unwind this Christmas? I only have two weeks off and I assume you only have a few weeks off. How do you supercharge your relaxation time so you get the most relaxing and recovery out of it?

Diana,
Brisbane

Hi Diana,

Ha!! Great question and I am well qualified to answer because I do excel at working my holiday so to speak.

First step: turn into a ruthless bitch, not hard for myself to do thankfully. The way I see it is this. For the whole year I am boss, mother, wife, daughter, daughter in law, chief cook etc…. I do that until Christmas day at 3pm.

At one minute past 3, I undergo a huge transformation. I drag my protesting, long-suffering kids out of the pool at the family Christmas function, speed home, pack the house up and head for the coast.

Three hours later, I am sitting on a balcony by the seaside with my feet up sipping a cool glass of wine. For the next two weeks, I don’t do anything that I would normally do (exceptions are drinking alcohol and sex.)

Here are the don’ts:

• I don’t cook normal meals unless I am putting on BBQs for 40 people. The kids eat Christmas ham, cook themselves, walk to the fish and chip shop or scavenge sausages at the surf club.
• I don’t think about work (much).
• I don’t see a single person I don’t really, really like.
• I don’t encourage visitors. In fact we have a strict no visitor rule which includes relatives. You want to come down? Book your own house up the road.
• I don’t slave after children. When the kids’ friends come to stay I point them to the list of rules on the fridge (which includes their favourite rule: The fridge is always full – help yourself to food and drink anytime you like but don’t ask me where the glasses are!)

The second step is to do lots of weird and unusual things you don’t do through the year.

• I read a wide variety of books, most of which require a lot of concentration.
• I go out every second night and catch up with people I haven’t seen all year instead of limiting myself to a few nights out a week.
• I run on the beach or take long bush walks every day instead of scurrying from the car park to the office.

The key here is to make time do some things you like for a change. If you don’t to it, you won’t make it through what promises to be a big 2012.

Be smart
Your Aunty B