Summer non-plans and the joys of a simple life

"So, what are your plans for the Summer holidays?"

This is the question I'm getting in every conversation I engage with colleagues, acquaintances and random people ever since Easter has come and gone.

"No specific plans this year because I have to finish paying for my car." I reply every time.

"Oh I'm so sorry." I hear back every time, as if I was diagnosed with a terrible disease or something equally dramatic happened.

But what if I'm okay with that? Nobody ever considers that I may just be okay without a 10-days trip abroad or two weeks at a beach town full of tourists and Italian people on vacation. Nobody ever considers that I might actually look forward to reorganize my bedroom wardrobe and declutter it or just drive around the empty city enjoying a gelato in the shade or going to the cinema during a random afternoon. Nobody ever considers that purchasing a car is something quite huge (at least, in my view it is) and finishing to pay a three-year contract is a lot but still a privilege to be able to do it on your own.

This brings me to inevitable question: am I weird for being okay (truly) on not going anywhere during my Summer holidays?

The other day I was reading an article on Flow magazine where the author was describing one of her ordinary days made by walks in the neighbourhood, cooking favourite meals, attempting to do some yoga and ending the day reading in bed and being actually content with it.

With just one click onto the internet, I can see people who have quit their careers and are moving into the wilderness. Women who are climbing giant mountains. Families living off-grid in a place where the sun shines generously. People who are cycling around the world, with their scant possessions bundled onto the pannier racks. Walking from Ireland to Africa. Leading lives where every day brings a new adventure. Or starting their own business. Just because, why not? [...] But as inspiring as those choices are, they also sometimes make me feel like I'm doing something wrong in my life, with my quiet morning walks and my reading in bed.

Everybody is different, sure, but in this day and age it’s difficult to find joy in the ordinary, to remember that living a simple life can be as rewarding as climbing a mountain, it comes down to what you truly value and what truly matters to you. It’s also important to not get caught up in the social pressure and do things just because you are supposed to do them in my opinion. Which is hard. For me sometimes is as hard as having to answer over and over again to the questions I get asked every time people discover that I don’t drink alcohol.

For me, living my best life is drinking a cup of tea at the end of the afternoon. Or starting a new book. And that's okay too, I realize, on that ordinary Thursday in my ordinary week. There, in everyday monotony, is where I find the magic.1

So, no, I'm not going anywhere on vacation this year and I'm not sorry about it. I have actually made a list of things I would like to explore, like analog solo RPG games, collages to make, install Linux on my personal laptop, visit an exhibition, have a barbecue with some relatives, redecorate my hobbit house in The Lord of the Rings Online and organize a couple of dinners out with childhood friends of mine who live abroad but will be briefly back in town.

And I'm not sorry about it, honestly.