Both in English and in Slovak the word vacation has emptiness in its root.
Emptiness is something I have consciously started to explore and appreciate with yoga.
Unconsciously, I have ealways feared and cherished anything near empty:
Fridge, heart, wardrobe, wallet, terrible.
Beach, apartment, cinema, school, cool.
I learn to see emptiness much more as a potential, without the need to fill it in. To see its richness and wholeness. Mostly, it is space: for creation, renewal, surprise.
Summer newspapers always bring up the playful idea of a staycation, a new word referring to going nowhere for holiday and exploring what is around.
Stay is another word triggering off quite strong sensations. Again, for me cherish-despise issue. I love the idea that people and things stay as they are, stay near, stay by me… They rarely do, if so, only for a certain amount of time. And then, I have always loved change intuitively.
The change of weather, season, place, people.
Oh my, full of contradictions, this human mind device.
Back to holiday and staycation, yes, I am exploring its possibilities: taking a different bike route to work, stopping at an early morning coffee place (they are not too many in Brussels, unlike in Bratislava downtown); going to the spa in a castle just outside the town, watching the sun go down from a beach chair between two sauna rides; not cooking and shopping only for fruits and nuts.
A weekend in Rotterdam counts in staycation, as it is a spontaneous decision. Kids join, so I see the hot summer Rotterdam anew. In the indoor market hall on the island of Kartendrecht, Christmas lights are on all year round, and light itself is dim and soft. They serve a perfect cider there. The Maasvlakte beach outside the harbour is spacious, almost empty, windy and the colours are strong. Nearby restaurant by the lake radiates real beach holiday atmosphere. Staycation works, the mind relaxes for a moment, allows emptiness to occupy space.
I remember the magnificent feeling of the first day of summer school holiday; after exams, suddenly, two months of nothingness. The first day at the outdoor pool with friends. And no, it was not an easy feeling. The mind rarely accepts empty for long; boredom, insecurity, restlessness show up quickly and surely. The usual: why this swim costume does not look right on me? Why do I have money only for 1 ice cream and soda? Where is everybody? Why is tanning slow? What is the meaning of it all?
The meaning is: 42. None. Or it is the meaning we define in every present moment. Surrender to all that is: something I am learning.
