You Are Asking The Wrong Question

I see people getting hung up on meaning and purpose.  These two ideas aren't the same.  Usually, when people talk about meaning, they are wanting their life to have meaning on some cosmic scale.  The truth is that we have no evidence our lives mean anything on a cosmic level. We can certainly give our lives meaning, just like we can define any other object or thing that is around us.  

Purpose on the other hand is usually seen as something we discover or something that we create.  Some religious people might say that they have discovered their life purpose, which God gave them.  Some more existentialist types might say that they have taken responsibility for their lives and created their own purpose.  In summary:

• Purpose is something you discover or create that acts as a compass for your life.  It usually answers a why question for you life.
• Meaning is a definition you create that acts as an explanation for the actions you take in life.

The truth is that we can't really manufacture or discover a purpose.  We can only define our lives within the spectrum of our personal experiences.  I can't experience everything the world has to offer, so I'm making my choice regarding my life purpose on limited data.  

But, even if I could experience everything, this paradox of choice would likely lead me to question whether or not I was making the right decision.  How could one know if they chose the correct purpose?  It isn't as if it is a falsifiable experiment. 

At best we can just create a life where we are deluded into thinking something supernatural gave us purpose or we choose a purpose for ourselves, which will be impermanent.  What is our purpose?  What does life mean?  I think we are asking the wrong questions about life.  

On a biological level, we are all humans.  Each human has a decision to make.  Do they choose to live or do they reject life?  For all of us that choose to live, our purpose in life is obvious and universal.  If we choose to live then we are choosing to survive.  Further, if we choose to create life by having children, then they become part of our purpose (and we have a duty to them).  

Survival and/or replication of the species is our purpose.  And with that decision comes every aspect of life that could provide meaning for us.  Whether that meaning lies in our work, family, or something else.

How we choose to survive becomes more of a cultural question, rather than a cosmic one or one that we create purely on our own.  The society we live in has a culture (as well as sub-cultures).  So, the design of our lifestyle and the meaning we take from it becomes a matter of choosing how we make a living each day and provide for our needs, as well as the needs of our family (should we decide to have a family).  

The actions we take on a daily basis are better evidence of our wants than thinking too abstractly about this.  You can end up running down the rabbit hole when it comes to trying to find purpose or meaning.  The truth is you already have a purpose and you can define a meaning for anything.  

So, choose the culture of life that you feel most connected to and start living that way.  This will help you feel better since you will be taking action and aligning life with your values.  It also tempers the temptation to make life's purpose an overly emotional decision.  It has far more logical components to it that you might realize.  

The foundation of a good life is built on logical choices.  The passions are there for purely motivational reasons.  Once you feel a connection to a culture or lifestyle you are better off coming up with a plan for your life and implementing it.  It's not more complicated than that.  If complications arise, the cause is usually the influence you give other people over your life and/or your own limiting thoughts.  

That life is ephemeral should not stop us from living.  Simply by continuing to exist we have answered affirmatively in favor of life.  All that is left to do is choose life's flavor, which is where creativity begins.   

The Attitude of Life

Affirmation of the Value of Life

Attitude plays a crucial role in how we see the world.  Our culture has consistently held the view that life is worth affirming.  

Sometimes this view is expressed through religious belief, as is the case with the Abrahamic faiths.  Here are examples from the Bible, Torah, and Qur'an:

• Genesis 1:27 states: "So God created mankind in his own image in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them."

• Genesis 2:7 states: "Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."

• Romans 14:8 states: "If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord."

• James 1:17 states: "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

• Qur'an 67:23 states: "[God is] He who has brought you [all] into being, and has endowed you with hearing, and sight, and hearts: [yet] how seldom are you grateful!"

In summary all three faiths affirm the value of life in their teachings (especially the lives of their believers).  According to the Pew Research Center (2020), 28.8% of the world population was Christian, 25.6% was Muslim, and 0.2% was Jewish.

Let's examine two eastern faiths for similar sentiment:

• In Hinduism the Bhagavad Gita 7:19 states: "After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare."

• In Buddhism there is the story of the blind turtle form the Samyutta Nikaya (Pali Canon).  Here it is in verse form:  

Imagine a blind turtle, in the ocean's deep reside,
Surfacing once in a century, with the vastness as its guide.
A single wooden yoke, with a hole of modest size,
Afloat on the surface, tossed by currents and wind's cries.
The chance this blind turtle, with neck outstretched so fine,
Pokes its head through that hole, is a probability sublime.
Just as rare as this occurrence, so fortunate and grand,
Is a being's rebirth as human, to reach this precious land.

These views are far more nuanced, but both see being "reborn" as a human to be unique and special.  Certainly, they are life affirming beliefs.   Hinduism accounts for 14.9% of the world population and Buddhism accounts for 4.1% of the world population.

This leaves us with nearly 25% of the word being religiously unaffiliated (and around 2.2% in a host of minor religions we won't discuss here).  What does this group of religiously unaffiliated believe about life?

The religiously unaffiliated break down to broadly three categories of people:  atheists (17%), agnostics (20%), and nothing in particular (63%).  Obviously, there are no holy scriptures for these groups, but I suspect the larger group is influenced by the religious beliefs around them since they aren't openly denying them.  However, what we do find is that they all still affirm life in a variety of ways, mostly through a desire for positive moral actions (see chart).

As you can see, moral actions such as a strong desire to not hurt people can certainly be interpreted as affirming life.  This doesn't necessarily view life as a gift, but it does indicate that life is something special and has value.  

The American Humanist Association (an atheistic organization) affirms the value of life within it's definition of humanism: "Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that, without theism or other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good."

In summary, monotheistic faiths like Christianity, Islam, and Judaism treat life like a kind of gift, with a set of expectations and behaviors believers are expected to act out.  Polytheistic and non-theistic faiths like Hinduism and Buddhism see life as something unique and special that doesn't come around often for beings that are in a cycle of rebirth.  And even atheists like those in the humanist association see life as something which requires responsibility to a "greater good."  What all of these beliefs have in common is faith in something I like to call the "Big Why."

The Big Why

Let's take a step back for a moment and ignore all the previously mentioned belief systems.  Instead, we will focus on a much earlier state of nature.  I won't attempt to reconstruct everything anthropology has discovered about our distant ancestors.  But I will try to give a summary that will illustrate some key points about humanity. 

Humans have a unique set of skills in the animal world (or so we think).  We are capable of complex language, but more specifically we are capable of complex metaphor and story telling.  Evidence from archaeology, anthropology, science, etc. reveals man was capable of abstract thought and used metaphor to attempt to explain his place in the cosmos.  These stories were mostly transmitted orally for many thousands of years, until they started to be written down in more recent history.   

Humans tend to see existence and consciousness as the same thing.  This is the way we experience the world, as conscious first person observers.  Our biggest evolutionary advantage has always been the ability to communicate and coordinate our individual efforts with others in such a way as to create a culture that dominates the natural world.  A side effect of this increased cognitive capacity, abstract thought, and egoistic sense of self-preservation has led to the creation of elaborate belief systems to try to explain why we exist.  This is true for the religious and non-religious, alike.  

Altruism and the Birth of Values

The earliest human groups were hunter/gatherer societies.  These bands of humans were small and built on kinship bonds.  Typically, these bands were only a couple dozen individuals because they had to be small enough that foraging within a certain square mile radius would produce enough food for all the members.  Men would hunt and defend the territory.  Women would gather/forage and raise the children.  

Men, because of biological differences, tend to be more aggressive than women, so to reduce the risk of violence most of the men in bands tended to be blood relatives.  Women typically came from other bands in the area, this allowed alliances to be created and avoided incest.  

Because bands consisted of kinship relations between all of the members, they were genetically connected.  Biological organisms have an urge to replicate, this is a foundational idea in sexual selection in evolutionary biology.  Thus, the birth of a foundational value came from this original state of nature:  altruism.

Altruism is the selfless concern for the well being of others.  In these early human groups we see that the kinship bonds that existed between the members created the value of altruism.  Members would fight to defend other members, even if it put themselves in harms way, because it bettered the group and protected its vulnerable members.  This value is directly connected to the human desire to answer the why question about life.  The desire to build the strength of the group and protect it is believing in something bigger than yourself.  This idea has existed as long as humans have because humans aren't capable of surviving without other humans.  Our children are defenseless at birth and have a long maturation period.  This means it takes a literal village to raise a child and defend a family.

From altruism we can abstract a great many other values.  One such value is honesty.  The earliest stories from holy books indicate the importance of this value.  In the bible there is the story of Eve eating from the tree of life, being deceived by the serpent, and the consequences that came from that are original sin.  It is not hard to see why early humans would have valued honesty.  A member that couldn't be trusted was a threat to the group and the survival of individuals.  It is not wonder breaches of trust account for most of the conflicts humans experience; lies are as old as we are!   

Optimism, Pessimism, and the Idea of Progress  

Optimism is the belief that the future outcome of something will be positive.  This has been a foundational belief for humanity.  If a society has a why for existence and an ethical framework they can build a complex society.  That society, if it can defend itself from competing societies, can grow, conquer, enlarge its possessions, and thrive.  

Pessimism is the belief that the future outcome of something will be negative.  This belief has been much maligned throughout history because it is antithetical to the idea of progress.  How can you build something if everyone just believes things are going to crumble?

But, let's take a closer look at progress.  The idea of linear societal progress has problems.  Often times there are trade offs to advancements.  Improvements to technology can create unemployment in other fields.  History is filled with civilizations that rose and then fell.  The victors celebrate, while the losers fail.  The west is rich with a high quality of life, while other parts of the world (victims of colonialism) are left to live with artificial resource scarcity.  We live longer, but do we live better?  There are a million different ways we could challenge the idea of progress, which are outside the scope of this paper.  However, we can say for sure that progress is not always linear.  Setbacks are quite common throughout history.

This would seem to indicate that pessimism is at least as valid a view of the future as optimism.  That at best progress is limited and at worst cyclical uncertainty casts doubt on the future. Realism would be the golden mean between the two; however, it does not address the inherent suffering that comes with existence—casting a gray hue on things. 

Suffering: The Challenge to Life

Much like the problem of evil, which creates doubt for the existence of God, the problem of suffering creates a lack of confidence in the affirmation of life.  The problem with life is the ephemeral nature that is has.  Life is full of suffering and no one escapes it, whether you are rich or poor.  It all ends for everyone.

Let's look at suffering in the context of a human life:

• You are born into a world without your own consent.  Prior to existing you were neither happy nor sad. 
• You do not pick your parents, genetics, environment, country of origin, or anything else.  
• You are wholly dependent throughout life, for even adults depend on the strength of the economy, country, and employers.
• From the moment you are born you start to age.  You will be sick, and eventually a malady will kill you; if an accident of some kind doesn't first.
• If you live long enough you will lose people close to you.  This will bring grief.
• You may have to endure hunger, insolvency, war, and other vicissitudes of life.
• But even if life were pretty good, you still will one day die and you must live with the constant reminder of that fact throughout life.
• There is no scientific evidence for the existence of God or an afterlife (like the ones in the major world religions).  Even if an afterlife does exist there is no evidence that it is desirable or good.  This leads to cosmic nihilism, the knowledge of the indifference of the universe to human existence and meaning.
• Existence and consciousness cannot be a gift, rather they are obligations, the expectations of which are unavoidable from the world around you.

Additionally, humans are pretty poor judges of the quality of their life.  Why might you ask?  Thank the hedonic treadmill.  This unique adaptation for humans allows them to return to a baseline level of happiness despite the negative events that transpire around them.  Call it an evolutionary psychological gift that allows humans to not be completely devastated by loss.  This is why prisoners can still find moments of happiness, cancer patients can still live and fight each day, and its why we can endure a whole host of other aches and pains.  

It also means that no matter how much joy and happiness you experience from life, eventually those highs go away too.  You get used to things and you get bored with them.  That's why the new from jobs, relationships, and increased material wealth often goes away with time.  

Basically, our psychology always pushes us towards the center of things.  It keeps us from being devastated by the bad stuff, but it also keeps us from experiencing prolonged ecstasy from the good stuff.

Suffering and the truths indicated by the bullet points above do not affirm life.  As a matter of fact, if given the choice, these realities might lead most people to reject life.  Why aren't most of us anti-natalists?  In the face of all of that, why do we soldier on in our own life?  

Reason and Emotions

The cold hard facts of life tend to be guided by a frigid rationality.  That we live, get old, and one day die are simply facts about life.  Many of the decisions you make in life have rationality at the core.  Problem solving tends to be a skill that is dependent on reason.  The earliest cities formed as a means of protecting resources, wealth, and defense.  These are all practical concerns.

The limits of logic and reason tend to have an emotional component to them.  Who we love is a great example of this.  We can take a reasoned approach to finding a mate, the biological drive is certainly there for motivation.  We can look for someone with the attributes, skills, and personality that we want.  But at the end of the day that will only get you so far.  Eventually, you have this list of facts about a person and you have to decide to take a next step.  There's the leap of faith.  We reach a point where we know as much as we can know, so we jump into the pool of life feet first and see what happens. 

We could say, fundamentally, that all humans have the same purpose.  As biological entities we seek to survive and replicate.  So, the purpose of life is to survive as long as possible and produce as many offspring as possible?  That might be true of roughly everyone, but few people would admit that was their purpose.  We are egoistic at our heart, so we tend to think emotionally about ourselves and this gets applied at the group level as well. 

The truth is that reason and emotions go hand-in-hand.  Without an emotional pull towards something (passion) we wouldn't feel motivation to do much.  Then what good would logic be?  

I think the reason why humans continue to fight back against the universe's indifference is because of the powerful emotions that we feel towards life.  Without those emotions we would be left with a cold rationality that would simply lead us down a dark path.  The passion we feel for life is what allows us to overlook the ugly; rationality, then, becomes a tool to help us live our passions and embrace our emotions in a healthy way.  

But never forget that a leap of faith has consequences and elements of delusion at its core. Madness becomes our ultimate justification for choosing to live (how ironic).  That's bound to create problems throughout life.  

"The realization that life is absurd cannot be an end, but only a beginning."

                                                                                        -Albert Camus

Reconciliation

If all the ways in which we affirm life are based on subjective stories from the religious and non-religious alike, and the cold hard facts of life make us recoil, how do we reconcile them in a way that allows us to go on living?  Is it even possible?

Let me offer up a possible solution to a problem that can't be solved (zen proverb).  We have often been told to pursue happiness.  Nearly every philosophy or religion recommends this course of action in some way.  Science even researches how to be happier.  Atheists and theists alike want to be happier.  

I don't think this is the way.  Let's go back to altruism.  This is the purest of all virtues for a social species like humans.  Without it none of us would exist.  Let's also think back to suffering, which is inherent to all of us.  No matter what story we tell ourselves to get us through the darkest night, whether it is Christianity or Humanism, we cannot escape the suffering of the human condition and we cannot escape our dependence on each other.  

It seems to me the goal of life isn't to be happy.  The goal of life, if we are going to create one, is to reduce the suffering of those around us.  That better aligns with our species ethos.  There are many names for this other than altruism.  There is negative-utilitarianism (a form of consequentialism), suffering-focused ethics, and Buddhism (secular and engaged), among others.  But I don't want to be dogmatic.  What I'm interested in exploring with this blog is how does the attitude shift from maximizing happiness to reducing suffering change the way we live our lives?  Many of the topics in this essay will be further analyzed throughout future posts.

Easy Staycation Ideas

What is the meaning of staycation?

A staycation is very similar to a vacation, except for one big difference.  You don't travel out of your area.  Instead, you experience all that your local area has to offer!  Sometimes you don't even have to leave your house to enjoy the benefits of a staycation.

Most people live in an urban area or one of its suburbs.  This is a trend that has been going on for a long time.  The Census Bureau reports that nearly 80% of the US population lives in metropolitan areas.  

If you want Mardi Gras, you have to go to New Orleans.  If you want the beach, you should check out Florida.  If you want to go to a museum, chances are there is one you haven't been to in your area.  

Unless you are wanting to travel to a specific destination to experience something you can't do anywhere else, you could probably stay home and have just as much fun!

The staycation focuses on experiencing what your local city has to offer, without all the hassles and costs of physically traveling.  With all that money you save from not traveling to a new area, it is likely that you can enjoy more activities than you otherwise could!

And if you have a family you can really focus on spending time together.  Sometimes we can get distracted when we are on the road.  Traveling all day can tire you out, so that you need a vacation from the vacation!  If strengthening your bonds is important, a staycation can be a great way to build relationships with the people that matter the most.

And don't think staycations are just for budget conscious travelers or people with families.  Even solo travelers and couples can benefits from staycations.  What's more romantic than cooking dinner at home, binging your favorite shows, or having a DIY spa?  

If you prefer to have fun on your own, a staycation can be a great way to experience a new hobby, skill, or exploring a familiar area in a new way.  

The staycation is truly open to everyone: families and individuals!   

Staycation Ideas for Families

Kids are out of school half of the year.  Did you realize that?  They only go to school for about 180-days.  When you aren't working it is only natural to want to take them on road-trips and excursions.  

However, those costs can add up quickly.  It is easy to spend $150 to $200 a night on lodging, alone, for a vacation.  You can have just as much fun in your home city, as you can in some far off location!  

By saving money on lodging or eating out you can have more money for experiences.  Here are my top 5-ideas for family staycations:

1.  Library Passes - Most libraries have museum passes that can be checked out, for free, as part of your library membership.  For example, I live near Atlanta, GA, so my local library has passes for Zoo Atlanta, Center for Puppetry Arts, Atlanta History Center, and more!  These passes typically include up to 4-people, so they are quite valuable to larger families.

2. Local Hikes - Have you checked out all the trails in your area?  Chances are you haven't.  So, why waste money going somewhere new when you haven't enjoyed what's in your backyard?  And you can wait until the weather is perfect to lace up those boots—making a more positive experience, overall.  Children really need to get off of those screens, and developing a love for nature is a great way to do it without lots of arguing.

3.  Local Events and Festivals - Every season brings events to an area.  Whether it is a fall festival or a spring fling, you can take advantage of a variety of cultural opportunities.  Let the vendors bring the fun to you!  Outlets, malls, sports teams, and other entertainment venues often have seasonal carnivals as a way to get people to come to their events.  These can be a lot of fun to attend.  Also, even the smallest towns have festivals to attract tourists to the area.  The lesser known festivals can be great ways to learn something new about subcultures within your own city.  

4.  Scenic Drives - If you live near mountains, beaches, or other natural wonders be sure to enjoy all that they have to offer.  There's often opportunities for picnics, swimming, nature walks, and many more activities along the way.  And if you aren't tired from driving 10-hours to a national park, you'll probably feel more like exploring—instead of collapsing into a hotel room bed.  And because you live nearby you can take advantage of these scenic area by avoiding peak tourist times.  No one wants to travel all the way to a national park just to spend the whole time waiting in lines for selfies.  What selfies can you take in your own town?

5.  Parks and Playgrounds - I was on a vacation recently and we had a full day of activities planned.  I asked my oldest daughter what she wanted to do.  She told me, "Can we go to McDonald's and a park where I can swing."  Well, we can do that at home I thought.  Then again, that's what she enjoys.  Isn't the point of travel to have fun?  

Much of what we do on vacations is the same stuff we do back home, just in a new location.  Sometimes all you need to do is explore the parks and playgrounds down the street.  The kids will thank you for it.  If you want some novelty, try a park in an adjacent town.  Sometimes that's all you need to do to feel like you've gone somewhere new!  

Staycation Ideas for Couples 

Some of the previous ideas will apply to couples as well. However, here are some more romantic ideas you could try:

1.  Romantic Dinner - Get a babysitter for the kids or drop them off with the grandparents and enjoy a nice dinner together.  You could go out to a fancy local restaurant or you could cook at home.  Focus on togetherness rather than taking the chance on an unknown restaurant in a place you'll likely never be again.  Sometimes novelty can distract from what's most important:  your relationship.

2.  Take a Class Together - Even small towns have cooking and art classes.  You can make a whole evening out of painting pottery.  You might even make new friends!  And if you enjoy it, the activity is easy to repeat because you live nearby.  

3.  Attend a Concert or Show - If you live near a medium sized to larger city you have the benefit of local entertainment.  This could be a baseball game, concert by your favorite rock band, or a traveling Broadway show.  The opportunities for a fun night out are endless!  Even if you live near a large town like Atlanta, don't be afraid to look at day trips to other markets.  For example, Chattanooga and Birmingham get high quality touring acts.  Birmingham, especially, gets a lot of Broadway touring acts.  Taking a day trip for an event can make for a great date, and you can be home in enough time to sleep in your own bed.

4.  Go to an Amusement Park - The fair comes to town once or twice a year.  If you live near a big city you have the advantage of nicer amusement parks like Six Flags or maybe a water park.  Look for coupons and codes for savings.  Tourism is big business, and as I stated in the previous section, even small towns have events that are worth checking out.    

5.  Spa Day - Professional spas give manicure, facials, body treatments, and pedicures.  You can also do DIY versions of these at home, along with mindfulness practices, aroma therapy, bath soaks, and more!

If your main goal is strengthening your relationship, focus on activities that involve a lot of one-on-one interaction.  If you want to be social together or do something completely new, doing it together can make for a more memorable experience.

Whatever your goal is a staycation can be the perfect way to have fun with your significant other.

Staycation Ideas for Solo Travelers

Individuals can do their own versions of most of the activities listed above.  However, there are some uniquely solo takes to explore:

1.  Tour Your Town - There are so many things you can do where you live.  Explore all the things you have never done:  museums, theme parks, cafes, nature walks, etc.  There is so much to do nearby.

2.  Explore New Hobbies - Have you never taken that pottery class?  Maybe you want to go to a writing workshop at the local library?  Hobbies are fun to try on your own.  A great idea for a staycation can involve going deep on something new.  Maybe you can even find a new third place.  People that travel solo can benefit from going to events that are social in nature.  What not find a friend to do that hobby with?

3.  Get Outdoors - Nature walks and trails can be so much fun when you are on your own.  They can be refreshing ways to reset and avoid burnout at work.  Even camping in your backyard presents a unique experience.  If you live near the coast you could enjoy a beach day or a lake day.  The sun is good for you and is a great way to reset and avoid burnout.  

4.  Use Tech or Unplug - Geocaching can be a fun way to pass the time.  This involves using coordinates on your phone to track down a hidden item.  It is a modern take on the scavenger hunt.  If you need a break from tech you could always unplug for a week.  Try to do everything you normally would without using your phone or computer.  Go to the visitor center in your town and ask about a scavenger hunt.  This is a great way to discover your city in new ways.

5.  Day Trip - Go someplace new, completely on your own.  Maybe there is a cool spot you've always wanted to visit, but never made time for it.  Perhaps there is a cool festival happening nearby.  Look within a 1-2 hour radius of your city.  What could you find?

The truth is you have a lot more control over your itinerary when you go it alone.  You can be as creative and adventurous as you want to be because you only have to convince yourself it is a good idea.  

A staycation is perfect for the solo traveler who wants more control over their choices, who is budget conscious, or who just wants to fall in love with their city all over again.  And if all you want to do is catch up on sleep why sleep anywhere other than your own bed?

Staycation Ideas for At Home

Maybe you don't even want to leave your house for a extended period of time.  If you are always on the go you don't need to go somewhere new.  Maybe all you need to do to feel like you've gone on vacation is to stay home.  Maybe that's different for you.  And who says you have to travel cross-country to have fun?

1.  Backyard Picnic & Camping - Put down a towel and enjoy the sunshine.  You could always cook a meal and eat it outside.  If you want to enjoy camping without the people and hassle of a campground, you can always pitch a tent in the backyard.  The best part is you don't have to use campground bathrooms!

2.  Movie Night - Watch a new movie every night.  With all the movie apps like: Netflix or Hulu, you can really watch almost anything.  Even first run movies are available for streaming.  The best part is that popcorn doesn't cost $15.        

3.  Cooking - You can make a new dish at home.  You can access almost any recipe from your phone.  Plus, you can have any grocery items delivered.  You can cook a great meal without ever leaving the house.  And if cooking isn't your thing, have Doordash or GrubHub deliver food from your favorite restaurant.

4.  Virtual Escape Room - Did you know you can join a virtual escape room and test out your critical thinking skills?  The best part is these can be played individually or in groups.

5.  Family Game Nights - The best part about a staycation is all the time you gain by not having to travel anywhere.  So, you could play a game every night.  You could even take the time to learn a new game.  By the end of the week you'll be an expert!

Don't treat your home as some prison that you need to escape from.  The home is supposed to be a comfortable place to hang out.  

Hotels should be reserved for long distance trips.  For everything else why would you want to sleep in some other bed?

Conclusion

There is no end to all the ideas you can come up with for a staycation.  Be as creative as you want to be.  The staycation is perfect for budget conscious people who need some time off, and don't have the resources to pay for the hotels, meals out, and other expenses that pop-up on vacations.  

Most of the time these extra expenses don't add much to the experience, they are just costs that are incurred because you are existing in a new area.  So, why pay for these things?

Know what your goals are, and think about what travel option will fit those goals best.  If your main goal is relaxation, a staycation at home can be perfect.  If you want to fill your time off with experiences, staying close to home can give you more time to explore more things.  

If your primary goal is togetherness with the people you love the most, you don't have to go very far.  The most important part is just doing things with them.  And you can do that right where you are.

Until next time!