06/23/2026
I just came back from an amazing one week vacation down Ocean City, NJ. My husband, kids and I had the most fun. (It was also pretty tiring for my husband and I but well worth it.)
My family and I like to get away to the shore twice a year - it’s important that we unplug from our normal day-to-day life, spend time together and relax. We love to go to the beach and go out for ice cream at night.
But what usually happens for me is that I don’t relax or start to unwind until about Wednesday. And at that point we only have a couple days left of the vacation.
I’m full of sadness that our time away will be over in the blink of an eye and upset with myself that I wasn’t fully present for the first half of the trip.
It used to take me days to get my mind off of work and other responsibilities. My body may have been down the shore but my mind was a million miles away. I was tired and stressed that when my girls asked me to do something like play in the sand, I would say ‘tomorrow’ or ‘in a little bit.’ But those times never came.
And when the week was over, I would spend the car ride home full of regret and longing for another trip to make up for my lack of doing things.
But this vacation was different. I decided on day 1 that I was going to enjoy every minute. And I decided that I was going to do what my daughters, husband, and I wanted to do without hesitation. Boardwalk ✅ Build a sand ‘city’ ✅ Beach yoga ✅ Jump waves in the ocean ✅
By doing this, I ended up having the most fun ever and leaving on Saturday with zero regrets. We will go away again as a family but this time I don’t feel like I ‘need’ to.
One of the things my daughters asked me to do was to go for our traditional early morning walk on the beach looking for sea shells and rocks on Monday - they love it and get so excited to do it. Initially I felt my brain say ‘why not wait until later in the week.’ But I stopped myself, got my brain on board and said ‘yes, let’s go!’ We had such a fun time as always but something was different. I was whole-heartedly present which made the morning so much more enjoyable and fun.
And because we went on Monday morning, I didn’t have it taking up space in my mind remembering to go later in the week.
This was all possible because I learned to manage my mind. I learned to direct my brain to what I wanted out of the vacation. And the end result was relaxation from day 1, being present with my family and enjoying every minute, without any regrets.
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If this resonates with you and you want to be more present with your family and get the most out of your family vacations, I can help. I work with women to teach them how to manage their minds so they can be intentional with their time, have more fun and less regret. To learn how I can help you, send me a PM.