Remember when I wrote this post in January on JOMO: the Joy of Missing Out? I found out very quickly that we all NEED to disconnect sometimes – we crave it.

Next week Marco & I leave for a trip to Catalina Island, just like we do most summers with his family (my first trip + my second trip) and I am preparing now to disconnect.

I’ve got an auto-responder scheduled to go up on my email, I’ve notified all of my clients, and I’ll be taking a week off from anything work related.

Today, I wanted to share a JOMO update on what I’ve learned about disconnecting so far, what’s worked and what I’d continue, and what changes I plan to make this year as I take time off.

My hope is that this post will help give YOU permission to take a break, disconnect, and relax a bit. I hope it helps to set you up for a more fulfilling, slow, relaxing summer. The first day of summer is Monday!

Oh, and by the way… Abby & I had a conversation and decided to leave Self-Love Summer open to join until Monday. Why? Because we received a couple of emails from girls who still wanted to join and figured, WHY NOT. Let’s bend the rules a bit! Join here. 

How I Plan to Take a Break

Last year in Catalina I took a week off, put up an away message, left my phone at the house 90-95% of the time, slept in, took walks/hikes, ditched my makeup bag, and did everything else to feel like I was on a total vacation.

This year, I will repeat some of the same things and be a bit more lenient with others so that I can fully embrace doing what feels FUN for me. My word at the beginning of 2016 was LOVE. While it’s still a great word for me, the real word for me this year has been embracing FUN.

I made a vision board at the beginning of this year and added the phrase “biggest breakthrough ever” to it. I was eager to learn what my biggest breakthrough ever would be. So far, in the last 3 months, I can confidently say that my biggest breakthrough is how IMPORTANT having FUN is.

Think about what it would be like to make fun a priority:

• in your relationship
• in your business
• in saving money
• in cooking
• in exercise
• in your experiences
• in your spiritual life
• in your closet
• etc…

What I’ve learned about the importance of FUN: When fun is a priority, everything else feels more authentic. Take my business for example… When having fun is a goal, I am MORE eager to meet with my clients, to love on them, to show up for them and support them fully, to serve them, to sign-up new clients, to renew ones who are already with me, to create projects for HHS, to launch things like Self-Love Summer & the Finally Free TRIBE (more on this later!), to read, to learn, and to work… To get things done! My business THRIVES the most when I’m having fun. FUN = PRIORITY.

So, read on to find out how I’ll be disconnecting and having FUN, and get encouraged to do the same thing  this summer.

1. Put an away message up

First thing. An away message on my email. Here’s the exact away message I have up on my email right now.

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Subject: I’m vacationing in Catalina Island

Message: Hey there!

I’m away from my email, vacationing on Catalina Island with my family.

This week, I’ll be on the beach & in the sun, present with my family, creating valuable moments and memories. We don’t want to miss these opportunities – they’re too important. 

Do you need a break too? Here’s some encouragement on how to disconnect! 

You can expect a response from me on Monday, June 27th as I return.

Here are the two places I’ll be hanging out on social media this week, for pure fun: 

Instagram: @healthyhitsthespot
Snapchat: @healthyhitsspot (no “the”)

If you’re a client who need an immediate response, please text me or send a message on Skype. 

Enjoy your week!

Love,
Paige

P.S. If you want to work with me one on one, I’d love to block off 60-minutes with you to get to know you more. Please schedule any available time to talk with me here. 

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2. Take “work” out of social media

As you all know, my friend Abby & I launched Self-Love Summer this week. This launch was SO fun and felt so authentic. I got to share about my mom & our staycation, enjoying our moments and not worrying about the little things (like eating clean or belly rolls), and on Instagram, I got to be super intentional with what I wanted to share and how I wanted it to look.

Looking back over my Instagram after the launch, I got excited. As a business owner, it’s kind of exciting to look at your Insta and think wow, for the first time, I actually feel like this thing has some consistency to it! 

It’s temping to want to just keep the whole thing looking “perfect” and only share graphics/images that go together… but as tempting as it is, I know that you’re human just like me, and you like the REAL stuff.

Pretty images are appealing and we can appreciate them, but they also get old & we want the real stuff: snippets of life, the little moments, yummy food, and actual experiences.

So, I’m giving myself permission to take the “RULES” out of Instagram and while I’m on vacation only share the fun moments, unrelated to work – all about our trip!

3. Read leisure books

Last year I read The 4-Hour Workweek. While I definitely didn’t apply everything I learned, I took away a lot of useful information from this book – things like only checking email 1-3x per day (versus every 10 minutes / leaving your email browser open all day). It was a fitting book last year, because really it’s all about creating boundaries and not being tied to your work life.

However, this year I want to read books that are completely for leisure. The book I’m planning to take is called Heaven is For Real or For the Love. I’ve heard so many special things about both books!

4. Give my body a break

I plan to rest, relax, and treat myself incredibly. As I visualize my vacation and what I’ll want to do, how I’ll want to feel, what foods I’ll want to eat, and how I’ll want to move… I picture nice, quality food, movement, and rest that give my body a break.

I picture waking up most mornings, having cozy/quiet time around the house. Reading, and being with family. I picture walking with Marco & exploring the Island. I picture letting go of anything I may be carrying emotionally.

Visualizing these things is half the JOY! Did you know that much of the joy we get from going on vacation is the anticipation of getting to go? So, take advantage of that! Enjoy dreaming and thinking about it.

5. Sleep in

No alarms will be set this vacation. This time will be all about letting my body sleep when it wants to. I’ll go to bed when I want, and let my body decide when she wants to wake up. I never sleep in at home, so this will be a treat.

6. Bend the rules

Bending the rules is necessary from time to time. Just like I talked about with Instagram and letting go of having a “perfect feed” I’m also going to allow myself to put my phone away when I want to. I won’t have any hard/fast rules on staying off my phone, email, etc… Rather, I’ll check-in and ask myself what I want.

What would make me feel good, one moment at a time? What do I want? 

For example, my intention is to not work, but if inspiration hits while I’m on the beach and I want to draft a VIP Q+A email or blog post, why not? I’ll open up a doc on my computer and get to writing. I won’t post it or actually open up my blog portal (that would feel like work), but sure, I can write if I’d like. The rules are, there are NO rules (does this remind anyone of Grease?). I can do what feels good. And so can you. 

7. Visualize to actualize

As of today, I’m already visualizing what would feel good on this trip. I can already SEE Marco’s cousin Cade and myself walking to get everyone coffee each morning. I love this part of Catalina. I can already see Marco and I going for long walks to start the day. I can already see us grabbing food from the grocery store deli, and eating lunch on the beach. I see us looking around at shops. I see myself putting my hair in my favorite top-knot, and sitting on the beach. I see myself swimming and staying warm in the sun. I see us going to the movies. I see myself with refreshing drinks, amazing food, and feeling incredible in my body. Not because I’m meeting any certain standards, or doing anything “right” but because I’m taking care of myself and that’s what really matters. I see myself having quiet time some mornings, and spending time with God. I see myself feeling refreshed and ready to ease back into daily life when I return. I see myself letting go of stress, being present, and laughing because what could be better? What could be more important?

I am so excited to disconnect this vacation, let go of responsibilities, and ENJOY my time. Share with me! How do you disconnect? Any favorite things to do or not do on vacation?

P.S. Don’t forget – Abby & I have decided to leave Self-Love Summer open until Monday (the day we start). If you want in, sign-up by Sunday – the website will switch to waitlist mode for 2017 sometime during the day on Monday.