Vacations are so good for you
Here are four good reasons to make sure you take regular vacations:
Planning a vacation creates excitement and happiness.
Just planning a trip can make you happy. In some cases, the anticipation of an upcoming trip or vacation may bring you more happiness than the actual trip. A study in the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life found that vacationers had higher levels of happiness than usual during the planning stages of the trip, largely as a result of anticipating good times ahead.
Vacations improve your physical health.
It turns out that taking vacations reduces your stress level. You might be thinking “well, duh” about that, but it also turns out that those reduced stress levels can result in better quality of sleep and lower blood pressure, which can last for months after the end of your vacation. Depending on your vacation, you may get more daily exercise than usual, which also has health benefits.
Vacations are good for your mental health.
In addition to cheering you up in advance while planning a vacation, vacations have other mental health benefits. Vacations lower stress responses in most people, which gives your brain a much-needed break from cortisol, which is involved in the “fight or flight” response. A vacation can improve your life satisfaction and also reduce chronic work anxiety.
Vacations improve your creativity.
Vacations can boost creativity, possibly as a result of having to deal with the challenges of travel. But I can vouch for them also prompting creativity in home decor, clothing, artwork, and even cooking, based on experiences my husband and I have had when traveling.
Let’s take cooking as an example. When we returned from Greece, we added Greek salads to our repertoire. When we returned from Italy for the first time, I learned to make Spaghetti Carbonara. And when we came back from a ten-day trip to France to visit Aix-en-Provence, Lyon, Paris, and Bayeux (Normandy), I hunted down French cookbooks to try to find one that nailed the sorts of meals we really enjoyed while there. It’s how I added The Bonne Femme Cookbook by Wini Moranville to my collection, and I can say that every single recipe is simple to follow, and all of the ones I’ve tried have been massive successes, from Gratin Dauphinois Ce Soir (scalloped potatoes) to Glazed Carrots to Coq Au Vin Assez Rapide (quick Chicken Burgundy). I’ll add a link to it at the bottom of the post, in case you need a cookbook with simple French recipe.
Morris and me in San Francisco this spring.
My view on vacations
Morris and I have evolved our view on vacations over the eight years we’ve been together. We went from squeezing them into weekends so as not to interfere with Morris’s tai chi teaching schedule, to taking longer vacations, to taking regular vacations. For the past several years, we have been taking two vacations each year. Next year, we plan to raise it to three, one of which will include taking my adult daughters with us to Italy—something we’ve all been looking forward to for several years.
I get that vacations can be taxing. And expensive. We budget for ours, and sometimes go big (like Europe or San Francisco), and sometimes go home (LOL—I crack me up). We have also done short(ish)drives, like Loveladies (on Long Beach island in NJ), Cape May, NJ, Washington, DC, Tarrytown (Sleep Hollow), NY, and so forth.
We have found them to be especially good for reconnecting with one another in a deeper way. With no obligations apart from being with one another and doing/seeing what we want to do/see, our relationship comes first. We find ourselves in new places, having new experiences and deeper conversations. We spend less time on our phones or checking emails, and more time checking in with one another. Basically, there’s a lot to recommend it.
Morris and I have a list of places we’d like to travel to. Some of them are places we’ve visited for a day while on a cruise (we’re thinking of you, Barcelona!), and some are places we’ve never been before. They are in the United States, in other parts of North America, and all around the world.
What about you? Do you have a list of places you’d like to go?
May I suggest that you download the PDF I created, entitled “Where do you want to go?” For sure do one for yourself, but consider printing more than one copy for your favorite travel partner, or every family member, to fill out.
Because once you have a goal, you can figure out how to get there, even if it takes some time and savings.
If you feel you could use support as you make goals and plans, whether they are for travel or otherwise, feel free to reach out to me. Helping women to set and obtain their goals is quite literally what I excel at as a life coach, and I’d be happy to set up a discovery call with you to see if we are a good fit. Better still? Discovery calls come with no cost to you!
I didn’t forget about that cookbook. Here is a link to it at Amazon:
