momstown Niagara Mama "Relaxes" At The Cottage

I was very much looking forward to a week away at a cottage with my family recently.  As we got closer to the time to go I realized that a full week away would mean so many things would have to be put on hold, which wasn't an option.  I decided to spend the first half of the week with my family and then return home to get back to work.

The week before we went to the cottage, my sister-in-law sent me an email saying "are you ready to relax?"  When I read that the strangest thing happened - I felt anxious!

When I think of "relaxing" I think of sitting with my feet up or getting a massage or doing nothing but enjoying the silence.  With a busy work life and an even busier family life,  there isn't much time for those things anymore.  In the moment that I was presented with the idea that I would be spending days "relaxing", I was so overwhelmed with the thought of all the things I wouldn't get accomplished in that time.



We arrived at My Lakefront Cottage on Saturday afternoon after a 4 hour car ride that my children were surprisingly well behaved for.  My mother and father in-law as well as my brother and sister-in-law were already there when we got there and the place was spectacular!  We took a quick tour and started unpacking.

We soon realized that all the food we shopped for the day before was left at home in the fridge.  The nearest store was about a half an hour drive and it was dinner time already.  The kids were running around like crazy and constantly asking for things and I started asking myself "when does the relaxing part start?"  It had been a long day and once we got the kids to bed we were tired ourselves and made it a pretty early night.  I went to bed that night thinking "this isn't going to be relaxing at all...this is harder than working!"

The next morning the boys were up at about 6 am.  That is so much earlier than when we are at home.  When is this so called relaxing going to start?  Now I'm anxious and exhausted!  I was tired and cranky and pretty much the opposite of relaxed.  After snapping at my husband a few times I realized that not only was I not having a good time, I was quickly dragging everyone else down with me.  The point of the trip was to have a nice time with my family and for us to spend some time together.  This wasn't happening and it was my fault.  After lunch my husband and I decided to take our boys for a walk and check out the island.  I decided that my only goal for the next few days was to make sure that my three main men had a really good time.  We returned from our walk and I started to feel a little happier.  It was such a beautiful day so we decided to make due with the food we had and go in to town the next day.  The kids played in the water and did some fishing and I sat down to read my book.  I tried to relax but I couldn't stop thinking about all the things I needed to get done.

Cooking dinner that night with my husband's family was a really fun time.  It wasn't what I considered "relaxing" but I found that it was something that wasn't stressful, and it took my mind off things that are stressful.

The next morning was raining so we got up (really early again) and made a really nice breakfast.  It felt great to not have to rush to get the kids fed but to actually enjoy the process of getting breakfast ready.

My plan for the day was to spend the morning reading and then open my laptop and get some work done in the afternoon.  To my dismay, I opened my dead computer and when I went to get the plug I realized I hadn't packed it.  The thought of being unplugged for days almost sent me right over the deep end.  My sister is my business partner and I promised I would have a working holiday because we have some deadlines coming up. I was very frustrated with myself and had no idea what a blessing that would turn out to be.

We had to replace the food we forgot so we took a drive into town.  Laughs on the drive there and back made it really fun and I was so glad I didn't have to stay behind to work.

When we got back we started to work on a really nice dinner.  We had some wine and talked about exciting things going on with each of us, which was so nice because we are all so busy we rarely get the chance to catch up.  It was a really great day that ended with my favourite game Apples to Apples.

 It was when we went to bed that night that I started to realize that my idea and definition of "relaxing" has definitely changed over the last few years.  I realized that during my holiday the times I enjoyed the most were not the ones where I was sitting by myself in silence doing nothing, they were the times when I was doing one thing without worrying about something else.  I hear people say all the time that you should "live in the moment" and I don't think I really got it until now.  Relaxing to me isn't doing nothing, it is enjoying what you are doing and not worrying about what you're not doing.  It sounds simple but for me it was very enlightening.