What is a vacation, and what is not a vacation. And the benefits of vacation.

WHAT IS a vacation:

1.  Time off work that are not regularly scheduled breaks such as weekends

2.  Allowing oneself to destress.

3.  Allowing oneself to do enjoyable activities.

4.  Checking in on work emails and phone calls as little as possible. Preferably you would not engage in any work on vacation, but hey it is 2023 and with mobile devices this can blur the lines.

5.  Time spent self-caring. 

WHAT IS NOT vacation:

1.  Times you travel for work. Sometimes a trip for work can involve also adding days of personal time. That is a hybrid and gray area.

2.  Time you take off work to spend mostly on catching up on personal projects that feel like work (like fixing your house) or to care for a loved one.

3.  Does your time off pass the ‘smell test.’ Does it feel like a vacation? Answer honestly… it is either a vacation or it is other time off work.

4.  Time off from work spend bingeing on alcohol or drugs of abuse… going on a bender is not a vacation. Time off from work spent on benders is a wake up call that you should consider professional mental health therapy.

5.  Time off from work where you go into great debt, especially credit card debt that will take a really long time to pay back. This can look and feel like a vacation, but it is not (in my opinion.) 

Both of these lists could be much longer. Here are mental health benefits to vacations and the importance of having personal downtime that you would normally be working. The following are in no particular order:

A.  Destressing- day to day stress releases stress chemicals into our body. These can build up over time and cause physical and mental problems. In extreme situations the stress hormones may cause serious results such as burnout at work, relationship issues, and yes- at the extreme even death.

B.  Catching up on sleep. While ideally, we would all get 7 to 9 hours of sleep regularly, it is important to include good sleep as part of vacation. It will make you feel better.

C.  Improved mental states. Often depression and anxiety symptoms will alleviate during vacation or at least go down a bit. 

D.  You might just have fun. That seems fun right?

E.  Bonding with friends and family.

F.  Ability to reflect on daily challenges, and ability to readjust priorities and strategies for life stresses.

G.  Experiences of enjoying things that you have put off enjoying. You do not need to travel for vacation to be vacation. Perhaps there are shows, video games, music, etc that you have wanted to experience. Vacation is the time.

H.  Vacations help you to build gumption and grit. You will likely be better at life following vacations.

I.  Vacations give us something to look forward to and enjoy planning. 

J.  Relationships can improve following and during a vacation.

I personally will be on vacation July 15 until July 29 this year (2023). I hope circumstances are such that you also get a chance to vacation, even if small ones, this year too.