4 tips to maximize your vacation and your happiness
I’m hoping I’m the exception, but do you also sometimes have the feeling you’re not enjoying your vacation or trip to the extend you would like to?
You put such a high expectation on your holiday that it becomes difficult to live up to that. For example, you want to take a lot of time reading. You pack 5 books and your kindle (just in case) and halfway through the holidays you get frustrated that you’re not doing as much reading as you wanted. Or that halfway through the vacation you see the glass half empty: oh no, soon I’ll have to get back to work again and this will all be over.
Result: you’re not fully enjoying your vacation. Relaxation is not near as good as you hoped for. You’re frustrated and you’re spouse is carefully trying to make you feel better (you got to love them).
Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we set such a high expectations? And why don’t we enjoy every little moment of this time that we can use to do whatever we want.
Here are a few tips I use to avoid the holiday dip.
Lower your expectations
Don’t be too ambitious on holidays. Try to avoid “should” and “must” and think in terms of “could”, “can” and “want”. I should finish these books, I should do my workout, I must relax changes to: I could read a book if I want to, I want to do a workout, I can just relax right now. Focus on the relaxation and the freedom. We have plenty of those shoulds and musts waiting for us back at home. If you’re like me, lowering this expectation is not natural and requires awareness and effort to be ok with anything. Nothing must be achieved.
Sleep some at the pool. Stare at the clouds. Play. Live in the moment.
When do you feel unhappy? When you expect a Ferrari and get a Mercedes or when you expect a Fiat and get a Mercedes?
Happiness is subjective and relative to your expectations.
We get frustrated or unhappy when we are not getting/doing/feeling what we’ve set ourselves up for. In our mind, the ideal vacation was different, so we tend to become unhappy or frustrated, or not fully enjoying the trip. Lower this expectation and be kind to yourself.
Embrace boredom
I’m not good at doing nothing and we live in a society where doing nothing is rare. We work. We watch TV or read a book when we try to relax, we take our phone to the toilet and bed to keep ourselves busy, we are preparing our shopping list, we squeeze in that workout and the groceries, and we visit friends and family. We rarely just sit still for a few minutes and do nothing.
But it’s wonderful, especially when travelling. Who cares if you don’t finish that book. Look at the beautiful surrounding you’re in. Take a moment to really take it in. We are always busy with the future, with those shoulds, chasing sensory experiences.
Exercise
This maybe sounds a bit strange after the previous tips, but exercise is such a mood booster. If you start feeling lazy because of all this relaxing, doing a bit of exercise will raise your energy levels again. Go for a walk, ride a bike, run or do 30 minutes of Kayla Itsines's Sweat Program like my wife (who is seriously becoming stronger than me). Not only will you feel more energized, you also limit those extra kilograms that typically come with a vacation. Win-win !
Be grateful
Even when some frustration hits, there is a relatively easy way out. Force yourself to focus on the good. Think with gratitude about things. There are so many things we can be grateful for and they are easy to find when being on vacation. It can really shift your mood instantaneously. Don’t be stubborn trying to hold on to the negativity, you can let it go by focusing on all the good things that happened or are happening.
You’ll start to notice that your holiday is going smoother. More positive things start to happen. You’re getting calmer. The mind starts taking a well-deserved break. It becomes easier to enjoy every moment. And you finally start to really recharge those batteries.
What are the things you do when frustration or negativity comes into play on your holiday?