avatarAlberto García 🚀🚀🚀

Summary

The article reflects on the misconceptions of modern vacations, emphasizing the importance of restful and meaningful breaks over excessive and costly holidays.

Abstract

The author shares a personal narrative about the pitfalls of a typical vacation, which often leads to overindulgence, financial strain, and post-vacation stress rather than true relaxation and rejuvenation. The article suggests that the societal pressure to have an impressive and Instagram-worthy holiday can result in choices that are detrimental to one's physical, emotional, and financial well-being. Instead, the author advocates for vacations that are planned with the intention of genuine rest and self-care, even in the form of a simple, technology-free retreat. The piece concludes with the author's own experience of finding peace in a remote village, which provided a more fulfilling break from the demands of daily life.

Opinions

  • The author believes that the common perception of vacations as opportunities for excessive partying and consumption is misguided and can lead to negative consequences.
  • Vacations should prioritize mental and physical health over societal expectations and the desire to appear well-traveled or affluent.
  • The pressure to have a grandiose vacation can lead to a cycle of debt and post-holiday depression, negating the benefits of time off.
  • The author argues that true relaxation comes from disconnecting from the fast-paced world and engaging in activities that bring personal joy and satisfaction, such as reading, walking, and reflective writing.
  • The piece suggests that the best vacation is one that aligns with an individual's unique needs for rest and is not dictated by the experiences of others on social media.
  • The author has personally experienced the benefits of a simpler, more introspective vacation, which led to a deeper sense of relaxation and a reevaluation

Your Vacation Doesn’t Matter That Much

What is more important to us, our rest or appearances?

Photo by Joey Nicotra on Unsplash

My last vacation was a long, long time ago. Obama was president.

I have a fuzzy memory of that vacation. I know that happened because of the photos in the Facebook Vacation 2017 folder — I should delete that sh*t before someone like my mom sees it.

To be honest, it wasn’t that big of a vacation. Too much partying, too much sun, too much food. Too much excess.

I didn’t even plan them with illusion. I chose an all-inclusive hotel and did the same thing I did on the weekends but in another country.

I didn’t have to worry about cooking, so I ate a lot.

I didn’t have to worry about cleaning, so I made too much mess.

I didn’t have to worry about getting up early, so I spent my nights going from club to club.

I’m not saying that going on vacation is a bad idea. We all need to rest. I’m just saying that many times our concept of rest is the wrong one.

In conclusion: we should focus our vacation periods better. Or schedule other vacations to rest from the first ones. Because, believe me, after a week of eating, drinking, staying up all night, and doing all kinds of silly things under the sun, I ended up in a mess.

I went back to work. Tanned but with terrible post-holiday depression. Nothing was going right, and it took me a couple of months to get back into the swing of things.

Recovering from that vacation was like recovering from the flu.

If you think about it, it doesn’t make sense. You spend the year waiting for a few days off. And when they come, you go to a hotel where you have thousands of activities and end up turning your life into a surreal gymkhana that leaves you physically destroyed.

We all know this. And yet, at this very moment… somewhere there is someone stressed out looking for vacation deals.

Why do we do it?

Bragging is the answer.

I try to remember that vacation, but I have gaps. I guess because of the effects of the sun and the mojitos.

Although, there is one fact I remember clearly. I left with 154 pounds and came back with 176. It took me a year to lose those 22 extra pounds.

We are supposed to go on vacation to replenish our strength, to take care of our mind and body, not to torture it.

As I said before, I think we do it to show off. We don’t want to be less than anyone else. And o be like everybody else, we go on a cruise or to an all-inclusive hotel on the beach.

And we do it: we take the bait. And we use up our money and energy. And it’s a stupid thing to do, but we do it.

Plus, the budget never meets expectations. And you end up spending more than you planned. My all-inclusive hotel turned out to be not so all-inclusive.

The thing is, I ended up spending twice as much as I had planned. And I ended up paying with my credit card.

Debt that took me all the following year to clear.

To sum up,

  • It took me months to recover emotionally.
  • It took me a year to get my weight back.
  • It took me a year to pay for that vacation.

It was all a complete mistake.

You might be thinking,

At least you went on vacation.

Yes, but at what price?

I compromised my emotional, physical and financial health. And what did I get in return?

Debt, diet, and discomfort.

But I learned the lesson. Let me explain.

  1. Having to pay off the credit card every month until I paid off the debt taught me not to overpay for things.
  2. Dieting made me realize that we are what we eat. And that if you eat healthily, you feel healthy.
  3. The emotional discomfort I felt as a result of post-holiday depression taught me to prioritize myself above others.

It’s funny. We don’t realize that every time we say yes to something we don’t want to do, we are saying no to another thing that we may want to do, such as spending time with our family.

Vacations are overrated. At least the kind of vacations that travel agencies sell us.

Besides, think about it, are you really living the life you want to live if you need to escape on a cruise?

This question and other circumstances that are not relevant were the triggers for me to leave my job at a prestigious law firm. I quit selling traffic ticket claim services and start writing.

Now, I don’t need to go to the Caribbean to spend the night partying and the day eating to forget my life. Now I just need to disconnect. And for that, it is enough to have time for me.

Vacations aren’t worth it if you don’t do it on your own terms.

Don’t live your vacation as advertisements or social media photos of your co-workers tell you to.

Create your own concept of vacation.

Don’t live other people’s lives. Live your own. Each person is unique and knows what they need to feel good and relax. Dare to do it.

You may have a very stressful job. And you need to disconnect. Maybe you need a change of scenery. I can understand that.

But what if for this time. Just this once. You go on vacation to an inexpensive place where you can really relax.

I don’t even call it a vacation anymore. For me, it’s more like a spiritual retreat. Last summer, I went to a remote village in the middle of Spain.

Not only did I not have a good internet connection, but the TV signal also didn’t work either. In that village, there were no stores, but vans passed by from time to time to bring food and drinks.

You could not go to bed late. Because in the morning, the rooster crowed early. And the sheep and cows made a lot of noise on their way to the meadows.

There was not much to do during the day, so I spent the time walking, doing yoga, tending the fields, and reading until sleep overcame me.

I had forgotten what inverse reading is. Reading a novel and getting caught up in it until the end.

I had no responsibilities in that town, no rush. And when I returned to the city, it seemed that instead of 15 days, half a year had passed.

Seriously. I’m not fooling you. Try it.

Dare to book that cabin in the mountains. Dare to go to a small town, dare to live that adventure that every writer has inside. And take good books and a notebook. Write what comes to your mind and enjoy the process.

Make your vacation something that really matters.

If you have read to the end of the article, I want to thank you for your support. I hope this article has helped you. If so, let me know in the comments. I really appreciate it.

Thanks for reading. Alberto García (Malafama1981).

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