Usually if I take an entire week off work it’s to go somewhere, whether by train, plane or just walking down the street to a hotel that is not my house. This is partially because I love traveling, but if I’m honest, it’s also because it’s hard to vacation at my house when my non-vacation life is there.

As a classic Type A, workaholic, multitasking kind of gal, this is a problem. Since I’ll be on vacation this week, I have one goal: to actually relax. It’s not like I don’t need the break, as we have established that I do too much.

Even if I’m not writing columns while away at a waterfront resort — something I am ashamed to admit I have done — I’m always tempted to do something. Laundry. Scrubbing the floors really well. A massive closet overhaul arranged by season, color and whether each item zips up all the way.

These are important tasks that need to be done, but they are not ideal vacation activities. They can be stressful and time-consuming, and by the time you have to go back to work, you are no more relaxed than you were when you hung up your work badge for the week.

I come by this inability to staycation honestly. My parents rented a place in Ocean City a couple of times while I was in high school, and my favorite parts of our time away were sitting on the couch watching Whitesnake music videos and going to the movies. “Why did you drive three hours and spend money to do stuff you could have done at home?” someone asked my dad.

“Actually, we could not have done this at home, where people could find us and we would be tempted to do things,” he answered. “Down there, no one knew where to reach us and ask us for anything.”

This lack of chill is apparently so common that Real Simple magazine recently published a story called “How to Fully Relax on Vacation—Even if You’re a Type A Personality.” The article runs us chronically hard-charging sorts through things that should be easy to remember if you’re spending money to temporarily escape your life, like not bringing your laptop, staying off your phone and seeing nature. (Again, I admit to being a failure at this.)

I know that it’s going to be hard for me over the next few days to, say, avoid the laptop and all the other stuff when it’s right there. But here are a few things I’m going to challenge myself to do when I’m trying not to do things.

Watch TV without multitasking

It took hiring someone to clean my house for me to be able to sit down and rewatch the latest episode of “Top Chef.” I hadn’t absorbed any of it on the initial go-round because I had my head down in my laptop so much I could not actually see the food, which is a waste of time. My goal is to sit on the couch without my computer or phone in easy reach so I can fully take in the cooking shows, murder procedurals and scam documentaries the first time.

Walk or run outside

It’s supposedly going to be kind of meh and rainy this week, but that’s no excuse not to do something I don’t get to do while I’m working: taking a leisurely jaunt that’s not about training for a race or dropping something off at the post office.

Actually read one of the books sitting in piles by my bed that taunt me each day

Because that’s what they’re for.

Give myself a daily ‘to do’ time budget

There are a few things that I have been thinking of taking time off work to do, like going through boxes I haven’t cracked since I moved into my house in 2020 or culling the tchotchkes on my living room bookshelf. It’s OK to tackle those tasks, but I’m going to limit myself to an hour or so at a time, and then make myself step away and catch up on my “Law & Order” marathon. Or maybe call those friends I’ve been meaning to catch up with.

I am pretty confident I’ll be tempted to do too much, but then I’ll remember that I told you I wasn’t going to, and you are welcome to email me and ask me if I did. Does this sound like more stress? Maybe. But I have to start somewhere, right?