How To Have A Vacation You Don’t Need A Vacation From
I recently got back from a spring break trip! We had so much fun playing in Arizona as a family. What I've found is that living in cold places like Alaska and Minnesota, getting out and being in the sunshine is vital to my mental health. I literally feel a mental and physical energy boost as soon as I get into the warm sunshine. I realize it's a privilege to be able to travel and I don't take it for granted. Traveling has always been part of my life. Both my parents worked for the airlines and then my mom married a pilot! It was fun to travel around in a Cessna 180 which is a little 4 seater plane- or 6 seater if you have no luggage.
I love traveling because for some reason it relaxes me. I know for many, it does the opposite, but traveling for me allows me to embrace flexibility and going with the flow...which is not a strength of mine. I love meeting new people from different cultures. I love trying new foods and seeing the ways different people live.
Traveling is such an amazing opportunity to expand your world and remind yourself that there is still so much to learn about...but, if you're anything like me, there have been many times that traveling has also felt like a lot of work and I wished I had a vacation to recover from the vacation.
And when I talk about about travel- There are different types of traveling. There's traveling related to work, emergencies, family, luxury, adventure, and pure relaxation to escape.
So, however you want to classify your next trip, here are some small edits to consider to make your vacation amazing and not feel like you have to recover after it.
Enjoy the planning process!
PLANNING MAY BE THE BEST PART
Anticipation accounts for a major chunk of human happiness. One study of vacationers found almost all of the happiness boost happened before the vacation itself. When you think about the fun you’ll be having, you feel much of the same joy the experience itself will bring. Your brain doesn't know the difference between what's actually happening and what you're thinking about it.
revel in thinking about what you’ll do.
Enjoy the small things. the “once-in-a-lifetime” aspect of such vacations limits their overall contribution to happiness. Research increasingly finds that we return to previous happiness levels fairly quickly (we spend life on the “hedonic treadmill”), and so smaller pleasures experienced frequently contribute more to overall well-being than major but less infrequent ones
Don't work or put pressure on yourself to perform at your highest standard...at all. Release yourself from the expectation of working. As mom's it is hard, but maybe let your kids watch a little more screens, stay up a little later, and not fret about what they wear and what they eat.
Return at least one day before you go back to work
Live in the moment. Be intentional about savoring the sounds, smells, and experiences. Time doesn't go by quickly, it's when we're not intentional with it, that it feels like it slips through our fingers. Savor it. Make memories. Take some pictures, but don't post them to social media in the moment wait until later, if at all,
I hope these 5 edits in life will improve the reintegration process when you get back from a trip! My goal is to help you make your life easier and more enjoyable!