My family and I went on a wonderful vacation and I am just now getting over the stress of desperately trying to eliminate stress. First of all there are different vacations, there are those vacations where you literally do nothing, vacations that are active and fill your bucket list and than there are those vacations that include so many different needs that you can barely please everyone, never mind your own needs.
The vacation rut raises its ugly head-how do you combine the peace and relaxation with the stresses of a family vacation when everyone wants and sees the vacation in a different way. I just recently slept and felt more relaxed than many vacations previously but my son was constantly wanting to fill the bucket list-it’s hard to combine the two and come out on the other side both fulfilled and still relaxed. I wrote an article on my blog about the theory that a family vacation is a movie you have to watch again as the enjoyment you have is often lost in being too close to that amazing vacation you have so perfectly crafted to eliminate a year of stress. You are almost assured the disappointment on returning to your normal life.
I think the biggest aspect of a vacation should be to leave your expectations behind-often better said than done. I almost think you need to go somewhere new or do something you don’t normally do to avoid those expectations. This previous trip was to Cape San Blas Florida and although it was a totally new place we did the same things we had previously experienced at Navarre Florida and even though it was a different place it turns out to be the same process of trying to fill the void of expectation-experiences versus relaxation.
In the past I think my son was just happy to be in Florida but now we need to get that same feeling of enjoying a special day of fishing or seeing something amazing we haven’t seen before. Every aspect of the vacation competes with that first time we went to Navarre and the feeling and excitement will never be that same.
The next thing I would consider is to actively go with the flow, allow different experiences to happen without looking for a specific feeling or experience. When you have many people involved in the vacation, going with the flow is a very important aspect of enjoying your vacation.
A third and final thought, enjoy and find peace and relaxation where ever you can, don’t wait for that feeling of peace, create that aspect in your vacation where ever possible-it is in your best interest to relax despite all the distractions and stresses that accompany a family vacation.
In the next vacation i want to go somewhere we have never been ad do things we’ve never done. I’m thinking Yellowstone National Park-I’ll let you know how that works and if it breaks the vacation rut.
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