Time Off From Your Time Off: How To Unplug This Holiday Season

Have you ever gotten back from a vacation and immediately felt like you needed a vacation?

Sadly, the holidays aren’t always as relaxing and restorative as we might like. 

With many of using some (or even all!) of your vacation time to travel to visit family and friends, though, it still represents one of our only times to take time off. In fighting through security lines, cramming into tight airplanes, and listening to nephews and nieces sing Frozen (have no new musicals been released since 2013?), it’s hard to claim this time off for ourselves.

And given that more and more of us are feeling fatigue from the time we spend using computers, there’s a good chance that you’re heading into this break with your batteries low as it is.

To make sure that you get the most out of your time off and can actually use your holidays to help yourself recover from the year, we thought we’d recommend a few of our favorite ways to unplug while still spending time with your family.

4 Ways To Unplug Together 

Granted, it’s unlikely your nieces and nephews even need a screen to recite the entirety of Frozen, here are a few of our favorite ways of connecting as a family - without connecting to wifi (which can be an achievement all its own!)

1. A Holiday Hike - Or even just a walk around the block after spending time cooking and being cooped up inside. You can watch the rest of the football game on the DVR and the kids can pause their games - what matters is getting out into chilly, blustery, refreshing nature for a minute together.
   
   
2. The Family That Bakes Together - Often one person can take over all of the holiday cooking while the rest of us work on making couch cocoons. Instead, bring everyone around to help with different steps in the process. Breads and cakes are particularly good for teamwork, with lots of physicality (knead! knead!) and steps (batter and baking and frosting, oh my!)>
   
   
3. Turn A Page - Don’t let the little ones' insistence on screens get in the way of your unplugged vacation. Grab the Percy Jackson or the Little Prince and snuggle up for some quality time with a new book.
   
   
4. Unpack A Puzzle - With glasses of eggnog for the kids (and special eggnog for the adults), swap out family movie night for family 1,000-piece puzzle night (or 5,000, if you’ve got enough eggnog to last). You’ll be working and laughing together, and nothing quite beats the fun of finishing… or the fear of finding out there’s just one puzzle piece missing. Either way, it’s a welcome way to include the whole family.
   

As we often say, sometimes the best way to connect is by unplugging (and that’s the spirit behind our Unplugged IRLA Pack). Whether it’s something you’re doing for your own well-being or you’re involving the family, it’s sure to have you feeling healthier and happier as a result. 

How about you? How do you use the holidays to unplug?