The Vacation Concept Bothers Me Deeply
The real question is: why do we need to run away from our daily lives?
Vacation: what we do to get away from our work and our daily life, during which we live the “real life”, but which only lasts a week or two. Something we look forward to all year round and are sad to leave when it’s over.
To sum up: something we almost live for, but which represents less than 1/15th of the year.
Do you see the problem?
All around me, I’ve always seen people living for their vacations. For their days off. For their weekends. If it was only to get some rest, then why not. But something tells me it goes deeper than that.
I‘ve been that person.
I used to live for my days off. Every Sunday night I was depressed about the week ahead. At 20. It’s sad.
I’d wait for the days when I could leave everything behind and take a vacation. I wanted to get away from those boring days when I kept looking at my watch, waiting for hours to pass.
That’s when I realized that I was doing things wrong.
Everywhere, we are reminded that our lives are not infinite. We don’t have forever. Older people say it: life passes in the blink of an eye. And we speed up the process by spending our time waiting for moments other than the one we are living now. It’s like watching a movie on fast forward.
When I understood this, it put me in a great questioning of life. I felt that what I was doing with my days was not good for me, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do. That’s when I decided to start working for myself.
I wanted to organize my days as I liked. To use my time, not for someone else’s success, but my own. To grow in the process, to learn, to evolve. I now spend my days working for my passion.
Now, I’m happy to get up in the morning. I don’t need a vacation, because the life I’ve built for myself doesn’t need to be escaped from.
Mixing Regular and Vacation Lifestyles
I can see you coming: “not everyone is as lucky as you are.” I don’t see where the luck is. I’ve worked for what I have now. Taken risks. Made sacrifices. I’ve questioned myself, a lot, just to understand what I wanted. It wasn’t luck that brought me here. It was self-awareness and work.
If it’s not about luck, then anyone can do it. You too.
How about building a life that you love and don’t feel the need to escape from? I’m not telling you that you’ll love each day. You’re not supposed to love your job every day. There are ups and downs. But you’ll still have a general feeling of well-being about your life, and that’s gold.
The key is to mix your usual lifestyle, the one you have when you work, with your vacation lifestyle, the one you love so much when you are away.
Take a piece of paper, sit down, and make a list of what you like about vacations. Because it’s good to know that you like something, but it’s even better to know why. It’s a difficult exercise, but it’s crucial. Write down everything you like about your vacation.
I’ll be waiting. Just do it.
Done?
Good. You may have written things like: not being stressed, going to the beach, seeing my friends, laughing, playing board games, having a drink until 4 a.m., having time to practice my hobby, spending quality time with my family, etc.
Let me tell you something.
Everything you have written there is compatible with your daily life. This isn’t just for the vacations. Break down the barriers you put up for yourself. You are the leader of your world. You can decide for yourself. Why don’t you build your castle of happiness? Why do you continue to live in a motel where you can’t choose the decoration?
It’s a question of quality of life. I wanted to feel like I was on vacation as soon as I finished my work. So I took my things and my courage and I left Paris for a town 15 minutes from the beach. When I finish my work, I take my swimsuit and my beach towel and dive into the sea. You have no idea how happy that makes me.
Conclusion
Of course, you can’t get on a plane. But you don’t need to if you choose your place, your place where you feel like you’re on vacation all year round. Decide where you want to live. It changed my life.
You can change everything in your life that bothers you. Anything. It’s all about determination and courage. Sometimes it’s a lot of work. But everything can be changed.
If you want to spend quality time with your loved ones, why not organize your schedule to find time for them, instead of watching TV or wasting time scrolling through your phone? Why don’t you find a job that you love, that fits your needs and desires in terms of schedule, allowing you to do the things you like to do on vacation, but integrated into your daily life?
Nothing is stopping you. It’s up to you. You have the rudder in your hands. And no one will do it for you.
You only have one life. Don’t pretend you can’t do what you want with it.