This post is about allowing ourselves a vacation.
My idea of a great vacation is when I don’t have a lot to do. It looks like this: lying around on the beach with my husband, where the temperature is 75 degrees and the ocean not much colder, looking at a gorgeous view of the ocean with my favorite book tucked under my arm, and knowing there’s nothing on the agenda for days ahead of us.
When I mention this idea of doing nothing to some of my clients, I get an “Ugh!” in response or the comment “I can’t just do nothing. I have to do something; otherwise, I’ll get bored!” This doesn’t work well for people who feel that a day without achieving something is a waste. In my case, I have to occasionally stop doing everything to see who I am and where I am. There’s something deliciously calming about the experience. It’s a mini-respite.
On a bit grander scale, a great vacation can include all kinds of activity. Maybe you’re off to Europe for a few weeks enjoying the art, the food, the customs of other countries. Or maybe you decide to go fishing in a wild and gorgeous place that you’ve always wanted to visit. I have friends who take their kids on strenuous hikes high up in the Sierras each year and camp out on glacier lakes.
Do I have your attention yet? This post is a reminder that if you haven’t taken a vacation this year, now is the time to go or at least plan one for next year.
We forget that the process of renewal and regeneration is crucial to our well-being. We forget how to take a vacation and find ourselves steeped in too much to do, in lives that have become increasingly difficult to keep up with. Sooner or later, we forget what makes us happy and how to let go of all the things that keep us trapped in our daily existence. Life becomes very narrow, and our ability to think new thoughts, feel different feelings and experience new sensations diminishes to a dangerous degree. As my shaman used to say, “Don’t let your inner fire go out.” In other words, don’t let the momentum of daily life hypnotize you into taking care of it every minute of every day, using up so much of your energy that there’s nothing left to reignite your flame.
Don’t miss the chance to take a vacation and allow for relaxing, refreshing and doing absolutely nothing, if it pleases you!
Kathleen