So, July arrived and most of us go on vacation or at least see the holidays approaching. Suddenly we are supposed to cram all those desirable holiday activities into a couple of weeks of freedom. Hmm, well the truth is freedom may not be an appropriate synonym to vacation, especially not if listening to the general opinion. How to plan this free time? Who to meet? When to do what? When the planning begins, usually we realize time just flies and it’s basically time to get back to work.
I was sitting on the train a couple of days ago, I was really on-the-go, reading some important papers from work, checking my phone constantly, and waiting for, well let’s say a dozen of calls with important people. For some reason, in the middle of this stressful chaos, I opened a magazine someone left in front of me and my eyes soon fell on an article discussing the phenomenon of summer holiday stress. Interesting, I thought, particularly as I realized my own vacation was approaching and I was still in the middle of so many projects, to-do-lists and commitments…
When you google “semesterstress” or “holiday stress” you are overwhelmed with readings on the subject. Mental coaches, career consultants, blogs, lifestyle magazines…they all appear to have a word of wisdom or some thoughtful reflections to share on this.
Best, or at least most relevant, pieces of advice that I came over:
- Reduce expectations: relaxation is about facing life as it is, and too high expectations will ruin the process of getting in a relaxed mood
- Change mobile signal: a subtle but very effective help on the way. You want to be disassociated with your everyday life, hence you should also change those small details that remind you of it.
- Plan your work before so that you don’t have an excess amount of work the week before your holidays start. Remember it takes time for the brain to calm down and relax.
- Consider your acceptance level in terms of how available you want to be when you are away and plan for this. Hard, you may think, but make sure you inform people at work you will be away.
For some reason, the phenomenon of holiday stress seems to be coming back constantly, especially when the summer hits us. The general recommendation seems to be to lower expectations and make sure to calm down at least a couple of days before the holiday starts.
The constant haunt for prestige and built-in expectations plays a huge part in creating the stress factor. We want to return to work after our holidays and tell the world what fantastic experiences we had, what interesting places we visited, and how many activities we managed to cram into these few weeks. And of course, for the sake of our own satisfaction, we expect our holidays to be something extra, something above our everyday life routines and experiences. Not surprising, we get disappointed when these expectations aren’t fulfilled. Such a small thing as bad weather could cause us great anxiety and dissatisfaction. “I could equally well have been working” is a common attitude that results.
This is where the major problem comes in. We are unable to truly relax and appreciate life as it is, in its simple form.
Just like in so many other instances of life we are faced with the challenge of finding a balance in anything that we put our mind or body to, and it’s definitely not an easy challenge. It’s easier working with the extremes than the “fair enough”. You do need planning in your life, for the sake of managing time, but life also needs spontaneity to make it interesting (slash worth living). Somehow Italy taught me this, to better grasp the moment and reject part of my Scandinavian ambition for too much planning and structure. How do I find the best recipe blending planning and spontaneity? Well, your recipe is probably different from mine, but let’s call it Carpe Diem with a little bit of good planning. The art of planning for a longer summer holiday lies in the ability not to plan overwhelmingly and still make sure you do get the chance to fill your time with the things you love and may not have time to devote yourself to during the rest of the year. Keep in mind what the basic reason for going on vacation is for you, where most people would probably argue it’s about capturing new energy and inspiration. For one person this means to see the world in three weeks, for another it’s equal to staying in the summer house reading books all day long, not brainstorming on any larger projects than what to have for dinner or which next great novel to delve into. Keep it simple, listen to yourself, and make it simple when it isn’t. Most importantly, stay honest with yourself and your needs.
Whatever it might be, take a moment to think again; what really makes you feel good? Find the valuable moments when you do enjoy yourself and feel inspired. Most often these situations are the most simple ones. I see the clichés flowing here, it’s a pity isn’t it, but for some reason I got the impression such clichés were needed just to remind you (and myself) of their importance.
My source of inspiration. I love this pic from Casall’s SS09
catalogue, particularly since it combines the sport and the place that I love:
running on the island of Gotland.
What’s your recipe for relaxing during the holidays? Please feel free to send me an e-mail at andrea.frigell@casall.se or share your opinions with me on facebook.
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