I took a break from flying before I came to a regional. I thought about it like you... "I need to go fly an airplane"! The truth was, other than being able to check the recency of experience box on an application, flying around in a 172 didn't do anything for me. I found that my time/money was better spent in an FTD or RedBird type simulator shooting approaches. So here is what I would do if I were you:

1) Find a facility that has an FTD (flight training device) and get some hours in that shooting RNAV and ILS approaches.

2) Fly a 172 or whatever you want only to get current in an airplane. Not to get ready for your ATP.