What is it about sleeping in another place that helps us reset? Throwing some essentials in a bag and leaving behind your home and surroundings? It might be a night at a nearby hotel or renting a house an hour away. Sometimes, the act of leaving your usual surroundings behind, along with all that comes with them (laundry, unmade beds, overgrown yards, and other messes) is all we need. Sometimes we just need a change of pace.
I moved to Charleston during the summer months and was surprised at the amount of people who were leaving the laid-back beach town where they live, to spend a week or weekend in another beach town down the road. Or the people who would rent a beachfront house for thousands of dollars a week, when their own house was only 8 miles away. Once I had the chance to experience this for myself through a friend, I realized that while I was only 8 miles from home, somehow I felt like I was a world away.
A friend who lives in the northeast takes her kids to a nearby hotel on various brutally cold winter weekends to let the kids swim in the indoor pool. Resetting is good for everyone. It doesn’t have to cost a lot. The simple freedoms of sleeping on clean (we hope) sheets, dropping your towel on the bathroom floor, and not having to make your bed in the morning can do wonders. It’s a break from the everyday. It’s a change of pace.
Tumbleweed 