Is this normal?

I’ve just got back from a week on holiday, and I feel fantastic. Which I think is unusual?

Even though I’m back to work less than 12 hours after getting home.

I still have that wonderful, holiday feeling of being super grateful for time with loved-ones, a clear mind and a happy heart.

We nearly didn’t book this holiday and we figured we’d be happy enough just having a week of family time at home.

Which felt like sacrilege to be honest, but holidays are no longer the oxygen-line they used to be.

As “something to look forward to”. So we can count down the days to a time when we can read that book, stay up late, do whatever it is that counts as fun to us.

Holidays are something to focus on when we’re knee-deep in life admin at 11pm but “at least we’ve got some decent free-time coming up”.

We don’t seem to notice that we finally get there, we spend the first half of the holiday telling ourselves to “make the most of it” and then the second half counting down the hours until we return to reality.

And within 5 minutes of being home (or before the plane has even landed…), it’s like we were never away.

Why do we put ourselves through that?!

I sit here writing this with organised piles of washing behind me, extra work to do from taking time off, and a massive smile on my face.

This is what mindfulness has changed for me. It doesn’t just make work less stressful, it makes the free-time more enjoyable AND keeps that feeling going for longer.

Which in turn creates a wonderful positive cycle; one in which I turn up to work with a smile on my face, enjoy being at work (plus I’m more productive, etc etc), and then my free-time becomes about having fun not about recovering.

If you want to change your relationship with free-time and how you switch off, this is why my Mindful Living Retreats were created.

48 hours to PRACTISE switching off, while learning how to carry that same clear, focused mind to the work place, so you can be more productive AND enjoy work more. And then enjoy your free time more. Etc etc.

16-18th October 2026 in Gloucestershire has limited remaining availability.

Details and book here

Or send me an email to be on the waitlist for the April 2027 SW England retreat, or June 2027 North England retreat.

To quote a past guest “Several months on and I keep coming back to the lessons and techniques I learnt on the mindful retreat. My life is richer and more fulfilled for having found those 48 hours”

Sending love, and wishing you holidays that are fulfilling and rejuvenating

Lucy x