Relaxing Weekend Ideas - with or without feeding your brain, as well

With summer almost over you may find yourself wondering how to squeeze out some last bits of summer fun.  There are many things that you can do. These ideas can range from planning a solo staycation to gently feeding your mind.  If you're not sure where to start, read on for a few ideas.

Plan a solo staycation

If you are planning a solo staycation, you can use this as a chance to recharge your batteries.  Your choice: get out of the house, or just kick back at home and reconnect with yourself. You can plan a staycation around classic attractions like the theater or the local museum.  With some planning, you may find free activities or free admissions during the weekdays.  A lot of communities have farmers' markets.  Get down there, browse what’s in season and pick up some delicious food.

There are also outdoor activities such as hiking or cycling. If you want to explore more of your hometown, consider a staycation with a day trip.  Recently I visited a state park in my local area.  It was fantastic.  I got the benefit of fresh air, saw folks leisurely horseback-riding, got to people-watch, and enjoyed not paying attention to how much time had passed by.

Unwind at the salon with a mani-pedi

Another weekend idea is getting a mani-pedi. A mani-pedi is a great way to relax and pamper yourself. Sometimes you can score a deal by bundling different treatments or making an appointment mid-week or during slower times of the day. Depending on your budget and what you want to get done you can go for the simple gratification of getting your nails beautified or you can splurge and spend an entire day getting the works.  Did someone say I deserve a body scrub, massage, facial and nail package today?

Vision board daydreaming – past successes and future plans

Before or after a nice siesta can be the perfect time to assess personal progress.  Take the time to mentally pat yourself on the back for past successes.  What did you achieve that you are most proud of?  Have you kept the momentum going?  Don’t stop there.  Your future awaits.  What are doing to proactively prepare?  What is your next step for future plans?  And if you are not currently happy, what can you do to change that?  One effective idea is to utilize a vision board to capture the essence of your dreams and create a path to achieve them.

Create a spa experience in your own home

Whether you want to spend a few hours pampering yourself or spend the entire day rejuvenating your feet, creating a spa experience at home is a great way to spend the weekend. Find a vessel to catch some warm water, grab your luxurious smelling lotion, cue up a mellow playlist and get your spa experience on.  Carefully start by opening your facial pores with steam or a warm and moist towel (be careful, I said).  If you have a tube of exfoliating scrub, two thumbs up.  Or maybe a gentle brush is at your disposal.  Almost every grocery store and big box store has these conveniently inexpensive pre-moistened face masks.  You don't have to pay high prices.  Gift yourself the time to indulge in some pampering in the comfort of your own home.

Immerse yourself in nature

More people are taking wellness trips, and this trend is growing. In 2019, 830 million people traveled to experience nature, including hiking, tree-hugging, bird-watching, swimming, and snorkeling. If you stay local you can commune with nature without the stress of a longer trip.  Fishing is loved by millions.  You can indulge at a recommended lake location, or fish off of a local pier.  For the more adventurous consider taking your poles onto a rented boat.  Nature affords us so many possibilities whether you want to hike up a mountain and snap a selfie with the most gorgeous view behind you or just want to throw on a pair of shorts and wade into the water up to your ankles and quietly gaze at the water shimmering on the shoreline.

Listen to a guru's advice

You've been hearing about a guru's advice to relax and improve your life. But what if you just cannot bring yourself to pick up a book or read a bunch of chapters on your Kindle?  Your ears are here to give your peepers a break. Listening to a guru's advice can be both enlightening and relaxing. YouTube and Masterclass.com are filled with guru videos - Eckhart Tolle, Julia Cameron, and Deepak Chopra are among the many available.  Or explore the many great podcasts out there.  Pick a topic and there is likely a podcast out there on the subject.  I recently found some interesting ones on Stitcher, but if Apple Music, Amazon, or Pandora is more to your liking, go for it.

Cooking or free nutrition class

I see these promoted all the time at my local food market.  Got an hour or two free?  Why not spend time with a local chef and learn quick ways to spice up your go-to weekly chicken dish for you and your family?  Alternatively, sometimes you can pick up nutrition tips from an expert.  Maybe learn about the benefits of an herb or tincture you’ve been curious about.  Best of all, you may even strike up a conversation with those around you and make a new friend.

Support local artists

Many artists are featured at free exhibits.  For example, a jewelry designer may have a table or booth just a few minutes from your doorstep. There may also be local announcements of art installations or one-of-a-kind handmade craft displays. Along with getting some exercise walking from booth to booth you may discover something new to purchase.

Join so many of us that are figuring out ways to close out the end of summer with a relaxing weekend.  Whether you fancy a staycation, browsing your favorite boutique, listening to the natural melodies of crickets, or want to start or update your vision board (great tools found here) we encourage you…do something wonderful to recharge yourself.  Whether you prefer a solo relaxing weekend or the company of loved ones it is all about creating memories you can reflect on for years to come.

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

• A great way to start is with the Thrive Lounge vision board party Starter Kit. Click here now.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously receiving back the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder from the TL group. A super win-win!

Please join our Thrive Lounge email list. We'd love to share our newsletter, have you attend occasional workshops and have you as a member of our positive world-wide village of great people.

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Feel like it’s time for a career change? It is

In 2021, we began to hear a lot of talk around the great resignation. 

After the coronavirus has kept most people indoors to explore himself and their desires without the impact of the hard traffic to and from the office, pressures to look good for your boss or coworkers and more time… alone, many people had a momen to re-evaluate their life and came to the decision that they were ready for a career shift. 

Maybe they wanted to take out the time to learn a different skill or trade to get a higher pay. 

The slow down helped others realize that they were working towards goals of climbing a ladder that they didn’t want to reach the top of.

Finally, the demand just got higher in certain industries giving some employees leverage to leave their jobs for greater pay and better work life balance opportunities. 

I found myself feeling a little bit of all three of these positions - I was less-than-enamored with my job, realizing that I loved the time spent with family and had enough savings to slow down, and also there was so much demand for my skills that I was confident I could leave anytime and find a new job. 

So, yes, I considered joining the great resignation…

… I didn’t ultimately resign, but I knew many who did. 

In this article, I want to talk about how I came to that choice and a few ways you can identify if you should make a career change for yourself. 

Why Career Change is hard

In my case, I considered my team, my relationship with leadership and the fast growth that I’d seen in my career so far. I built a strong relationship with my boss, who was smart, kind and had become a friend over five years of working closely together. 

I’d gotten to know a few key members of the leadership team that rooted for me and helped me along my journey, making connections to help me grow and navigate my career. And… gosh, I adored my team. 

But I was itching to explore something new. To shake up my life and add some fun to the mix. 

Career change is change… and change itself is difficult to do.

Many people become comfortable where they already are, hiring managers in a new position may not immediately see the value you add to an organization because you’re leaving your track record behind you at the old company, let’s be honest, some of these 10-step interview processes make interviewing for new roles a barrier to making the change.

Is Switching Careers Worth It? 

At the end of the day, we’re all here for a short amount of time, if you’re thinking about making a change (especially if you’ve been thinking about making a change for a long time) then it’ll likely be worth it to try something new. 

How To Know What Career Change to Make

My favorite way to begin any life change is by creating a vision board. This process will help you to clear your mind, take a step back from the day-to-day annoyances of your current workplace to explore the good, the bad and the true desires. 

That’s all we really want at the end of the day, right? 

To feel like we’re putting ourselves first and pursuing what feels right. 

Brainstorm what you want out of your career

The first thing to explore is your desires. What do you want? 

Ask yourself this general question and see what your immediate answers are. The reality is that you know exactly what you want to do with your time and with your life, but we’ve become so accustomed to saying yes to others, climbing the ladder for progress's sake that it can be hard to hear the truth that lives within.

How you want to feel in your career

When considering my career change, I knew there was a challenge, a mountain I was looking for that I just wasn’t getting from my role. I’d been in the same type of role for so long that my job was… too easy. 

I'm driven by difficulty. I find joy in doing hard things. And I wasn’t getting that from my role. 

How do you want to feel at work? 

Answer that question as honestly as possible. 

What do you do well (and want to continue doing)

I’ve always felt confident and comfortable speaking in front of a group. Even when I make a mistake or don’t know an answer, I feel good knowing that I always come from a place of calm, kindness and collaboration that we (as a team) can figure out anything. 

It feels good for me to make both one-on-one connections and speak in front of a large group. That translates well to leading teams and relationship building. 

When you’re thinking about making a career change, answer this question for yourself: What do you do well - and would want to continue doing? 

Sometimes you do something well, but HATE it! 

For example, I’m really good at execution. It’s one of my core strengths. But I’ve always dreamed of helping other people execute as my career grew. So, while I know that I have those strengths, I no longer want to do that - so I focus on my natural relationship strengths as I lean into the next phase of my career.

A good book to read on this is StrengthsFinder. I review my strengths once every few years to make sure I’m living in alignment with what empowers me and allows me to grow quickly.

What you don’t do well (and want to remove)

Be honest with yourself, here. Nobody is good at everything. 

I, personally, could never be a designer because I don’t like to make things pretty. I get excited about the information, the findings, the work… 

… and then when it’s time to make things pretty, I’ll take hours because my eyes glaze over and I want to fall asleep.

When you’re preparing your career vision board, it’s important to think about what you don’t do well. 

While you won’t be designing your vision board around what you don’t do well. You do want to honestly consider what you have no interest in doing so you can focus your time, energy and attention on what matters most. 

When you’re done with the brainstorming and honesty session, here’s a post on how to create your vision board. And if you want some inspiration on your journey, here’s the vision board I created when I was working on my career.

Like I said at the beginning, I didn’t end up leaving my job. 

Actually, many of my team members (including my boss that I adored) left the company and my job became 10 times harder. I had to learn to delegate better, to recruit, train and manage my team, to maintain a solid relationship with our client and to deliver - always deliver - no matter what the internal situation was. 

That difficulty… 

… felt so freakin’ good! 

I was frustrated, but energized, I was learning and was challenged daily to rise to the occasion. It was everything I wanted.

So the great resignation hit home for me… but it didn’t hit me. And I’m ultimately glad I didn’t leave because I wouldn’t have had that experience that prepared me to be a better leader. 

Know that the best thing about creating a vision for your new career is that it will clarify what matters to you for your role and for your life. Making a career change doesn’t always mean leaving your company or finding a whole new career 100% different from the one you had previously. 

Sometimes it means finding the joy in your current role and turning the job you have into the career you always wanted. 

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

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About the author

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

I created a vision board to get pregnant... and I had twins

In February, while everyone else is buying roses, chocolates and bracelets for the ones they love, my husband and I are saving our pennies, staying home and creating our couple’s vision board. 

Creating a couple’s vision board every year allows us to talk deeply about our goals, how we feel in our relationship today and align on what we want going forward. 

This dedicated time to focus on each other’s needs helps us stay focused on what matters: each other’s growth, happiness and our partnership. We always know how we can support each other in this game called life and how we can both enjoy the journey without losing who we want to become.

Last year, my husband and I created a couple’s vision board centered around the goal of growing our family. 

What would it look like to get pregnant? 

Your vision board should encompass the journey in the same way that it does the end result. 

Brainstorming on what your life will look like on the journey to becoming pregnant is just as important as putting that bright-eyed baby on your vision board.

A partner

Unless you plan on having a baby by yourself (which you totally can in this day and age) you’ll need a partner in crime to share the pregnancy journey with. Add the type of partner you want to have accompany you along this journey. 

You may already have a partner, but you’ll also want to add how they’ll show up to support you along the way.

A strong financial position

I wanted to make sure I felt confident that having children wouldn’t completely throw off my ability to accomplish the goals I’d already set for myself. This includes traveling, retiring early and taking family trips (big and small). 

Having a strong financial position would make me feel more comfortable along the way. 

What’s do you want to have

No vision board is complete without adding in imagery for what you want to have. 

A family

If your baby will be an addition to your family, try to find an image that completes your family or gives you those beautiful family vibes. 

For our vision board, we added a family of five: two parents, one daughter and two little boys. (Surprisingly enough, that’s the family that we have now!) 

A baby

Don’t be coy. 

You know that you want a baby in your life so put that baby on the vision board. Seriously, how do you expect to get what you want out of life if you’re not even willing to say you want it out loud? 

Be honest with yourself… and with your vision board creation. 

Find the cutest little baby that you can and put his or her picture on the vision board. 

Family Adventure

I had my daughter at age 19. Since that moment, I became more responsible than I ever needed to be. I worked harder than anyone else. Stayed up later, studied more. 

Now that my daughter is 13, I've grown comfortable with saying “come on, let’s roll!” knowing I didn’t need an hour of packing a bag, warming a bottle and lugging a car seat around with me everywhere I went. 

Going back to the baby stage would undoubtedly mean I’d have more baggage to carry around. But still, I wanted to maintain the same (if not more) level of adventure that our family created when we were a 3-person family of adults. So we included lots of opportunities for adventure into our vision board. I don’t care if it takes more work, I still want to prioritize adventure. 

A loving home

Come on, can you look at a baby without wanting to nuzzle their little cheeks, cuddle them and smell their little heads? 

No, no you can’t. :) 

Creating visualizations around the love and support you’ll have in your home when you do have your baby will remind you what the end goal will look like and how much love and support you’ll have around you when your baby arrives.

How do you want to feel

Having a new baby always comes with a wave of emotions. Some people feel overwhelmed, stressed and tired. Then there are the others. Those pinterest-friendly parents that make the baby-drama look like a cake walk. 

Well, I wanted to be the cake-walk-parent. I wanted to feel freedom, joy, and well-rested. 

I wanted parenting to feel FUN. (My husband has always thought I was a bit crazy to want fun out of my children, but if I can create the life I want, why would I create anything else?)

The purpose of the vision board is to say out loud, visually, that you’d like to position yourself to easily receive a baby into your home. 

Create your vision board around what you want your home to look and feel like when you add a child into your life. And then, like any goal, begin working towards it.

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

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This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more info.

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About the author

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!

Unfilter Yourself, Take Action And Watch What Happens

I went into my company’s corporate office on a weekend as it’s empty and I could be away from my family and explore my desires.

 I set up shop in a conference room with a giant white board, and put my favorite business expert, Amy Porterfield, on the big screen to watch her ‘Planning your Promotional Calendar’ workshop.

 And I began planning out all of 2022

 I knew which promotions I would do and when, the changes I’d make to my business, and, most importantly, how I’d be updating my website to better fit who I was becoming as a human.

 Halfway through the year, I joined Rachel Rodgers’ ‘We Should All Be Millionaires Club’ and the first challenge was to make 10K in 10 days. (<<< I’ve never done this before!)

 Creating, promoting, or launching were not in my grand master plan, but I wanted to be part of the challenge.

 I kept thinking: “Chantl, you’re paying for this. Enjoy it, be active and do the work!”

 The challenge wasn’t so much about making $10K per se, it was really about jumping in headfirst, not filtering yourself, getting out of your own way and taking massive action to put something out into the world.

How ‘Finish Line By Design’ Was Born

 I sat, no distractions, and thought…

 … what if I could design the most amazing event, what would I do? What is MY ideal event?

 Within a half hour, I jotted down what I would love to create. The fun things, the stories I could share, what I would teach, and what people would learn from it.

 Over the next hour, I created the sales page. No researching other people’s online events, running ideas past friends, or coming up with a name and logo. All those things that distract from actually ‘doing’, right?

 This totally went against anything I would ever do. I’m an over planner, I plan EVERYTHING!

 But Rachel said to put stuff on paper unfiltered, so that’s what I did.

 I created MY dream event, and lived and breathed it. 

 In doing so, I made decisions about my own life. And that’s how I knew other lives were about to change!

Harnessing the Power of Unfiltering Yourself

 Planning my perfect event meant mapping out all the elements involved. Active and creative exercises, places where conversations would happen, and how people could connect with each other.

 I found myself crying as I put the meditation exercises in. I was blown away while setting up my own event.

 If you’re crying over your own stuff and changing your life, then you know lives are about to change!

 I decided to do the first ‘Finish Line by Design’ Workshop entirely unfiltered. Whatever and however I wanted, without asking anyone’s opinion or permission.

 That’s when the MAGIC happened.

 Women came in with multiple projects, unable to choose which to focus on or how to go forward. By the end of the workshop, not only had they picked the thing they wanted to do, but were confident enough to let go of things they didn’t.

 We all took ACTION. <<< Yes, myself included!

 Some created curriculums for new programs, others made time for things they had been putting off forever. One scheduled out time to write a book and started writing.

 Another blew me away. She wanted to create a course but had no idea what about. She figured it out by the end of the event and said with such confidence: “THIS is what I’m doing!”

 And then I knew that this event wasn’t just perfect for me; it was working for everyone else!

Learn What it Truly Means to Be Unfiltered 

 As someone who constantly talks about letting go of the things you don’t want to let in the things that you do, I realized that I too was guilty of filtering.

 But when given the challenge to chase my dreams, create the thing I wanted, with absolutely no filter, I created a life-changer in one day.

 So, my friend, ask the big question.

 Do you filter yourself, tone down a little, reign in your big old personality–let me turn on that work voice, right?!

 Wrong!

 Don’t be afraid to be you, without fear, without checking with anyone or caring what people think.

 Trust me and try it.

Sit down, write what you want to create, and don’t allow any ‘buts’ to creep in.

 Next, create a simple version of your big dream–unfiltered, unadulterated, without checking with anyone else or seeing what gurus on the internet are doing.

 Now, put it out into the world and see if anyone bites. Only in doing something will you know if it’s amazing.

YOU, my friend, have all the power inside of you. That feeling of success, the ‘oh my goodness I did it’? It’s yours for the taking.

 Unfilter yourself, show the world who you are, and just trust yourself to do what feels right.

 That’s when YOUR magic happens.

Drop a comment below: What does your unfiltered inner voice want more than anything in this world?

Want To Start Planning Your Vision Board Party? 

1. Download the FREE vision board party planning checklist.

2. Craft your inspiring vision board workshop talk with our FREE High Impact Storytelling Journal Prompts. 

3. Plan, promote & host your first (or next) professional & profitable vision board workshop with our signature course, Sold Out Vision Board Parties.

---

About the author

Cyrene is a fun and accomplished workshop facilitator, learning and development guru and Human Resources professional. Being at the helm of Thrive Lounge has been a long-time dream. Through vision board workshops she plans to accomplish two-way learning. Sharing her vast years of knowledge to motivate and encourage others; while simultaneously getting the reward of great energy, ideas and questions to ponder back from each group. A super win-win. Please join our Thrive Lounge community so you too can benefit!