Five ways to relax on a beach holiday

So here's the situation, one minute your rushing through traffic, juggling work, personal life and a blog and the next you're lying on a beach with your fingers twitching and unable to just 'be'. Sound familiar? City breaks are different as you often have such as packed schedule you don't have time to sit and worry, but by the beach and by the pool you can easily get caught up in all the things you should be doing, forgetting to take an all important break.

With that in mind I put a bit of thought into how I'd relax on our beach holiday this year and now that I'm home (and it worked) I thought I'd share it with you. Although it's not really ground breaking stuff, these little reminders certainly helped me.

1. Have a social media break. Or even better leave your phone at home completely (which I did, shock, horror!). But if you do have to take it leave it switched off and only use for photographs or emergencies. You can still share all the #holidayspam pictures when you get home, but this way you get to enjoy some good old fashioned, quality no internet time too.   
2. Plan what you are going to do with your sudden free time. This might sound like an oxymoron when we are talking about trying to relax. But sitting on a sun lounger thinking of all the things you should be doing isn't exactly a recipe for relaxation either. Take books, magazines a notepad pad and paper and of course a craft project!
3. And if you run out of books and crafts - people watch. You can learn so much about different cultures just by soaking up some of the atmosphere. Thinking up fun background stories for people is a great way to distract yourself from wondering if you replied to your boss' last email.
4. Don't wear a watch. Aside from the obvious no tan line benefit, it means you can escape your routine and do what you want when you want - essential for a bit of chill time.
5. Start a beach finds collection. Beaches are the perfect place to go hunting for little treasures; my personal favourites are sea shells, sea glass and feathers. When I struggled to sit still during our first few days in Barbados two years ago, I collected lots of sea glass from the shoreline and now it sits in a little glass jar on our windowsill. Fun to do and a free souvenir. 
Do you have any top holiday relaxation tips? 

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