How to Make Your Vacation Last After Returning to Life

August 2018 Photo: D. Wilson

Many people take vacations, love them, but then after returning home, they feel like they are back in the same grind counting down till they can leave again.  Here are a few simple suggestions to get the most out of your vacation.

1. Take a moment and jot down answers to these questions:

- What did I like most?

- What did I learn?

These become take-aways that are yours forever.  For me, one big lesson is how important it is to accept what’s challenging and just enjoy it. Things go wrong on vacation, it rains at inconvenient times, it’s too cold for the dress you planned on wearing to the wedding, luggage gets lost, life isn’t perfect. Enjoy the deviations from the plan. There is no universal life plan. Enjoy what happens.

Play with what you can learn from the time away. It will add to your resilience and happiness.  

2. Send thank you notes to people involved. Reminding them of what you did together and enjoyed helps those experiences linger. 

3. Organize your vacation pictures and share them.  I love pictures, even seeing a couple of someone’s vacation to illustrate a story is great. Usually I just keep mine on my phone and randomly delete in a panic when storage gets low. With the photos from my most recent vacation, I made an album on my iPad to easily share with friends who ask me about the trip. Much better than having to dig around when I am trying to find that special one. I can be more careful about what goes and stays in the memory bank. 

Vacations really are important. We need time to get away, do different things, break our mental patterns, visit family and friends, revisit different parts of ourselves, and try on new ways of being. Helping those memories endure will counter-balance the pressure when you jump back on the work treadmill. Any other suggestions on making your vacation last? Please share. 

<3

Diane Wilson

Editing Team: Lisa Files, Gary Wilson

Countryside of Sheffield, England, where Andalusia Amy Dorrington Grimard was born, Diane Wilson’s grandmother.