Lots of people dress down on Fridays, and while I tend to be pretty dressed-down at work every day, I dress down my blog on Friday instead. Today, I want to talk about vacation!
photo credit: Christina Welsh (Rin)
Remember yesterday’s post, about the blurring line between my “work” and “home” selves? Well, nowhere is that line more concrete than when on vacation. Vacation is my time (or, more fairly, my family time). I’m a bit extreme in this regard in that not only won’t I check my email, I generally won’t even watch the news or read the paper.
I unplug from the world and recharge my own batteries and recharge my relationship with my wife. It might require going out and being active, or it might be sitting on the beach and reading for six hours straight. This isn’t to say I don’t do any serious thinking — sometimes I do a lot of soul-searching and writing. Other times I deliberately occupy my mind with something difficult but unimportant, like a jigsaw puzzle. I find that forcing myself to separate like this reminds me of what is truly important, and gives me a reality check on the trivialities of life which can take up so much energy.
But not everyone recharges in the same way.
Some people don’t find it relaxing to disconnect, and prefer to stay in touch while away. They enjoy knowing they don’t have to do work, but still answer emails, picking and choosing what kind of connections they want to maintain while on vacation. I always joke with my manager that I know he’s having a good vacation if he doesn’t answer my emails, because he’ll often answer even when “out of touch.”
Some people have to remain active. A vacation day without a plan is a wasted day to these folks, and trying to travel with them has always been challenging to me. I like to trick myself into losing track of time while away — I’ll try to be “busy” for half the days in my vacation, letting the idle days become filled with whatever seems best at the time.
Some people hate to visit the same place twice, while others book at the same Bed & Breakfast every season. Some people don’t take their cameras, others never take their eye off the viewfinder.
How about you? How do you unwind? Any great plans for vacations this year?
