Back in the times of the Ancient Rome (aka autumn of 2014), my partner and I decided to have a staycation in the nearby city. We picked a nice hotel and booked a room for two nights. We made an itinerary of everything we would do during the trip, including drinking beer and playing Trivial Pursuit in preselected bars, visiting a museum, riding around in trams with takeaway coffees, and other absolutely wonderful activities. We had the best of time, and so, every autumn from then on, we have had a two-night staycation in that same hotel, doing all the fun stuff we felt like doing. In time, I added a brand new set of clothes and a visit to my hairdresser to the routine, and with the inflated reward, I also began to set some goals to reach beforehand so I could feel that special feeling of having earned the trip. Therefore, on the morning of the staycation, I've always felt like a million bucks, knowing that wonderful things will be packed in the next couple of days, and knowing that I worked for it.
This weekend is our autumn 2022 staycation.
Our itinerary is pretty much set - coffees and Christmas ornament shopping, good literature with alcoholic beverages, a museum visit, the F1 qualifiers, a tram ride, Trivial Pursuit, and good food. I've been saving my new sweater for the occasion, and because my hair is quite gorgeous as it is nowadays, I decided to skip the hairdresser. I've been working hard lately, gone to the gym every day this week, and eaten mainly eggs and meat for a few days.
However, regardless of everything, the million bucks feeling wasn't there this morning.
My theory is that the value of the staycation has inflated; that every year, though the reward stays pretty much the same, I need harder and harder goals to reach beforehand to feel anything at all.
Or maybe I should have thought about the weekend all week to get excited and start counting the hours to Friday.
Or maybe I should have booked the hairdresser after all.
Or maybe I'm afraid that we won't actually do anything on our itinerary and just sit in the hotel room watching TV the whole time. (Thanks to my partner for joking about this.)
Or maybe I'm being impatient and resent the fact that I need to wait (work) until the afternoon before the fun starts.
Though maybe the last-minute wait will be the thing that makes it all more special?
Anyway. I'll stop worrying now and decide to have tons of fun this weekend.
RK
