Vacations can be much-needed times of R & R, but they can also leave us more stressed and exhausted than we were before. Do your vacations provide the rest, relaxation, and reconnection you were hoping for? If not, read on for strategies to make your next vacation better —more enjoyable, more restorative, more of what you and your family need.
Why take vacations, anyway?
Because they offer a respite from the duties and anxieties of work and regular life. And because they give us time to pursue activities and experiences that are meaningful and enjoyable.
While a vacation isn’t a magic bullet that cures burnout in a single week, it’s an important strategy to promote overall wellness. Taking a break from regular life can relieve stress, restore relationships, and bring new joy and fresh experiences into our lives.
We all know “how” to take a vacation, or do we?
After all these years, you’d think we know how to do vacations. Problem is, we may have fallen into vacation habits that aren’t serving us well.
Do you fall into any of these common mistakes?
- Taking a “fantasy you” vacation. – This occurs when you copy other people’s vacation ideals or destinations without considering whether they fit your personality, season of life, and pocketbook.
- Cramming too many bucket list items into a single trip. – If a destination is on your bucket list, doesn’t that mean you want to fully enjoy the experience? Trying to do as much as possible each day simply perpetuates the hectic pace of everyday life in a new setting. Worse, it keeps you from fully exploring and enjoying where you are.
- Failing to unplug. – A restorative vacation means taking a break from work and other things that cause stress. You and I cannot disconnect from work if we are available 24/7. If you can’t arrange to be 100% off duty, designate specific times each day to check in, and then stay within those limits.
4 tips to make your next vacation better and more satisfying
You’re only on vacation for a few days. Don’t waste that time on mindless activities such as scrolling social media or binge-watching a show. You can do those things at home. Instead, focus on activities that actually restore you and connect you to others. These tips will help you make the most of your time away.
- Include “the 3 Rs”: Reconnect, Recharge, Reflect. Each of these activities plays an important part in restoring your body, mind, and soul. Make time for all three. Reconnecting means having conversations and sharing experiences with others. Recharging involves doing activities that recharge the areas of you that are depleted (see below). Reflecting means taking time to think back over your day. Notice the moments of blessing, joy, calm, connectedness, love, etc.
- Practice savoring. In normal life we often do things like eating while our minds are busy thinking about something else. Don’t do this on vacation! Instead, intentionally pay attention to what you are doing with all five senses. Not only will this help you make the most of wonderful moments, it will also create stronger memories of those times.
- Don’t force yourself to feel a certain way. Let go of expectation about how your time away will make you feel. Don’t beat yourself up for not feeling relaxed enough or happy enough or excited enough. Instead, focus on being present with whatever is happening and let your emotions be what they are.
- Think of your itinerary a draft. It’s good to have a plan but it’s important to be flexible. Give yourself permission to change your plans as you go, whether that means cancelling a plan that no longer fits or spontaneously adding something fun. Life doesn’t always go as planned. Staying flexible lets you keep a positive outlook instead of fretting.
Consider what areas need to be recharged
Recharging the depleted areas of your life is active rather than passive. Here are six different areas of your whole person that need some R and R during your vacation.
- Physically – will the vacation give you a chance to do activities you love? Get you outside and moving instead of sitting at your desk all day?
- Mentally – will the vacation help you decompress from the daily grind? Will it offer interesting new things to learn, see, or experience?
- Emotionally – will the vacation offer a respite from the people and situations that drain you emotionally? Will it offer the kinds of activities that fill your emotional batteries (whether that’s people time or alone time)?
- Relationally – will the vacation offer plenty of time to connect with people you care about? Will it include times for heart-to-heart conversations? Romantic outings? Fun family moments?
- Spiritually – will the vacation include times of reflection? Opportunities to drink in beauty or be awed by natural wonders? Times of stillness and slowing down as well as times of activity?
- Sensory – will the vacation offer time away from screens, alarms, tight schedules, and the other stimuli and distractions of life that exhaust your sensory capacity? Will some activities offer respite from overstimulation?
Finally, here are some tips from travel pros to make packing for your next vacation better
If you tend to overpack or always struggle to bring the right clothes on vacation, check out these two videos.
Six helpful strategies to avoid overpacking.
A simple method for creating a travel wardrobe that works no matter the destination.
