Bringing Vacation Back to Your Life

I am sitting in the shade of a hundred-year-old tree, over-looking the San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge peeking out through the fog. The wind is steady and sure, the weather unseasonably warm.

Life on vacation. It’s a good thing.

On vacation I try to seek out my ideal of fun: beauty, peace, relaxation, adventure, culture, learning, challenge, and so on. I tend to do things I never get a chance to do in “real” life. I may never bike or play tennis, but on vacation I’ll give it a try. I may rarely take advantage of the culture my own city has to offer, but on holiday, I visit museums, or points of historical significance. I even take in a show. In my regular life back in Atlanta, I tend to rush from event to event without taking much time to reflect. On vacation, I ‘veg’ out and do nothing.

I am no different than you. When you pull yourself away from your daily routine, you actually take up the Living of Life. Why is it that we have separated our lives from so many of the things we enjoy? So many of us relegate adventure and excitement to the one week a year we manage to take a vacation—IF we’re lucky enough to get that one week. Even more of us go years without making vacation a priority. “Too much to do, too little time,” “I couldn’t possibly get away,” “I couldn’t even think of going away right now,” “We can’t afford it, anyway.”

Do you hear yourself? I certainly do.

On vacation there is still planning to do, meals to arrange, schedules to keep, people to see, even fast-paced–and-overly-full agendas at times. It’s not that different from “real life” actually, except that I approach it with enthusiasm, excitement and joy. Ok, so there are no have-to’s on vacation, and very little actual responsibility.

What if I remembered to bring a little vacation into my life, every day?

I got a glimpse of this feeling after my last family trip—not exactly a vacation, but where there’s A beach and water, it counts. After we got home, I put hammock chairs in my kids’ bedrooms, a perfect place for a bedtime story. I figured there is something calming about a hammock that says, “Slow down, take it easy, enjoy life.” It’s hard to rush someone out of a hammock.

This time, when I get home from San Francisco, I want more than just the trappings of vacation. I actually want to seek out fun and relaxation in my life. And I want rest, and excitement, and culture.

I want to bring my vacation home with me!

I’ve shifted to a bench in the sun, feeling the breeze meet the heat in a perfect combination. I am sitting in this gorgeous setting with a laptop on my lap, inspired by the gentle waves lapping against the marsh. An older woman, on a break from cycling with her grandson, walks by, smiles, and says to me, “Now that’s the epitome of decadence.” I laugh and tell her what I’m writing about. She answers, as if it’s almost too obvious to mention: “Mini-breaks.”

Yes, that’s it. Mini-breaks! People who live in exquisite locales, like California and Colorado, understand this concept well and seem to really take advantage of hiking and spending time at the seashore than we who live in other parts of the world. We, who live inland, away from mountains and bodies of water, need to make the conscious choice to take mini-breaks, to remember what we enjoy, and do it while we’re IN our lives, not running away from them.

Imagine if you had enough breaks in your life that your vacations became opportunities to explore, instead of a desperate last resort to escape your life.

This is my resolve.

But for now, I’m going to close this laptop and take a walk along the path, feeling the sun on my back and the wind on my face. I’m going to remember that feeling, and bring it home with me. And then—and this is the hard part—I’m going to seek it out, every day. Maybe I’ll plan my exercise walks in more scenic areas; maybe I’ll take a picture of the bay and post it in my office. Maybe I’ll ask my family every night, “What happened today that you really enjoyed?”

I don’t know yet how it’s going to play out—after all, vacation is flexible. But I vow to enjoy more in my life every day.

Care to join me on this journey?

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This blog also appears as part of my regular column on ShareWiK.com.