Lounge lizard or energiser bunny: do you know how to relax?

Are you the type of person who can wind down at the end of the day – someone that knows how to relax? Do you take your annual leave religiously to give your mind and body time to recharge? Or are you the energiser bunny, moving from one thing to the next, not knowing what that lounge suite feels like? Eh, annual leave, what’s that?

Relax: Rest from work or engage in an enjoyable activity so as to become less tired or anxious

Relaxing is different for everyone. How much down time you need and how you achieve it is a personal thing but, strange as it may seem, I’m pretty sure relaxing is not my ‘thing’. Over the years I’ve tried to relax but have never enjoyed it. I’ve felt that it’s a waste of time when I could be being productive. I can’t sit still.

I know how important it is to recharge – I’ve been told a thousand times – but it’s never really landed on my ‘to do’ list. So last month, on the list it went:

  • Down time And I achieved it – sort of. I got creative and mixed keeping busy with relaxing. Some people just can’t be helped, can they?

Being a girl from Tasmania, who now lives in Canberra, I miss the ocean more than I thought was possible. So I headed to the New South Wales coast for some water, in the hope that I would relax. And wasn’t it divine!

Pambula Beach
Pambula Beach

The roar of the surf and the open space of nothingness out to sea. I sat, I looked, I listened and without realising it, I relaxed.

The following morning, I ran along that very same beach, creating foot prints in the sand, jumping out of the water’s way as it gently met my feet.

Men beach fishing, couples walking, neither worrying about time.

This place is magical. Pambula on the NSW coast – three hours’ drive from my home – is the place for me.

140522 jetty ed

So for the duration of my stay at Pambula I lived by the ocean, played with my family in the pools, watched my child with delight at the water park and lived slowly for the first time in I can’t remember how long.

140522 water park ed

On the last morning of my trip away I skipped the beach run and headed straight to the indoor saltwater pool, where it seems someone else had the same idea. A mother, finding that precise moment when the pool would be free of people, a moment for her to find time and swim to her heart’s content. For an hour it was just the two of us – she was much fitter than me!

Three lessons I learned on this trip:

  1. Take your annual leave.
  2. Always add some ‘down time’ tasks to your to do list.
  3. If you join the teenage boys in the spa, you will soon have it to yourself.

Near the water is where I belong.

What is your secret to relaxing? Do you have a special place that feels magical?

140522 Katrina profile edKnown as an energizer bunny, I’m forever on the move. I work full-time in public relations and I’m on what seems like a never-ending journey as a part-time uni student. I’m a mum to one gorgeous child, wife to a funny hubby and, because that’s simply not enough, I get up at 5am on most days to run, or walk, or whatever I manage to push through with. It helps keep everything together.

Contact me at darekatrina0@gmail.com or on Twitter: @Katrina_Dare

Written By

Carolyn is the editorial director of Champagne Cartel and a freelance writer. In her spare time she is a long-distance runner, peanut butter enthusiast, and single mum to three incredible humans.

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