Choose Yourself!

 

In today’s stressed out world where many people live on deadlines and balance their finances paycheck to paycheck, it can seem challenging to stop and take care of your own self.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross has said, “There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub.”  While this notion may be true, it can be easier to stop thinking about work and the piles of papers on the kitchen table (and filling your inbox) when you are physically separated from the tasks. Sydney J Harris used to say, “The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.” There are times when you just need to focus on yourself and the best choice for relaxing is just to get away.

One of my favorite characters is Helen Fielding’s Olivia Jules in Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination. I love her “Rules for Living” which include the following: 1. Never panic. Stop, breathe, think. 2. No one is ever thinking about you. They’re thinking about themselves, just like you. 15. Don’t regret anything. Remember there wasn’t anything else that could have happened, given who you were and that state of the world at the moment. The only thing you can change is the present, so learn from the past.

I would love to go to the Spa with Olivia and relax with her for a Spa weekend break in the UK. I love her rules for living and think she would be a great spa day partner. I wonder if she would have joined in with George and my parents when we all tried out a Tai Chi class at a spa day. It was really fun to have a private class but it was definitely challenging!

I always love to take a tour of a spa and see all its great facilities. I like to go in the sauna but do not like a steam room. My favorite treatment is a hot rocks massage or a hot oil massage. If you have not tried them, think about trying something new on your spa weekend. Find out all that is on offer at the spa you select and pick what will make you feel more relaxed.

You have to remember to feel comfortable. Going to the same place but having a new treatment can feel like a real vacation. A friend and I went to a Korean spa and had a body scrub and then a massage. The massage was so rough I actually saw stars like a cartoon character in a movie. My friend said to me, “Why didn’t you tell them it was too much?” I said, “I thought it would feel good later.” She said, “You were making crazy faces!” I did feel great later but would not recommend having a treatment that causes you significant pain or discomfort. Make sure to ask questions and to tell the staff what you want: Do you want softer music? A warmer room? Dimmer lights? This is your time so speak up!

Spa days in Kent are on my to-do list; I plan to meet up with my friend, Nancy, and enjoy some relaxing treatments, and finish with a cup of tea. I cannot wait to stop and smell the roses and to not think about my bulging email inbox.

Lisa Ellen Niver

Lisa Niver is an award-winning travel expert who has explored 102 countries on six continents. This University of Pennsylvania graduate sailed across the seas for seven years with Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean, and Renaissance Cruises and spent three years backpacking across Asia. Discover her articles in publications from AARP: The Magazine and AAA Explorer to WIRED and Wharton Magazine, as well as her site WeSaidGoTravel. On her award nominated global podcast, Make Your Own Map, Niver has interviewed Deepak Chopra, Olympic medalists, and numerous bestselling authors, and as a journalist has been invited to both the Oscars and the United Nations. For her print and digital stories as well as her television segments, she has been awarded three Southern California Journalism Awards and two National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards and been a finalist twenty-two times. Named a #3 travel influencer for 2023, Niver talks travel on broadcast television at KTLA TV Los Angeles, her YouTube channel with over 2 million views, and in her memoir, Brave-ish, One Breakup, Six Continents and Feeling Fearless After Fifty.

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