Vacation

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Whether we go on a log trip, or only have a brief sojourn ~ all vacations have one thing in common; we step away from our day to day activities in order to have some fun, to take a rest, and in a way to recharge ourselves.

Yet the word in itself has a lot to say about what vacation is all about; It seems to have a lot to do with the verb ‘to vacate’ ~ meaning to leave, or to make empty.
The question then becomes what we are leaving behind; what are we making ourselves empty of.

When you see some spring break video’s on YouTube, it seems that in some instances what some vacationers leave behind is their good old common sense...
Something else most leave behind while vacationing is our day to day schedules ~ the times we wake up, the routine to get to work, coming home, doing chores. All those things we leave behind as they are part of our ‘regular lives’ rather than our vacation.
And finally, the thing every vacationer really really wants to leave behind, or even vacate themselves from, is stress. At least the stress that is associated with our busy  day to day lives; as research suggests that vacation in itself can be a source of stress all its own.

In a sense, looking at the word vacation form its most literal perspective, taking some time to ‘vacate ourselves’ from those things that burden us is a good thing. It allows us to take a step back, to see what is really happening in our lives, to decide what is truly important to us. And then, what we take back from vacation is the knowing of exactly that: what is and what isn’t important to us. Coming home to our regular lives we then have a choice to act upon that knowledge.

Another benefit from stepping out of our every day environments in order to vacate ourselves ~ to release the things we no longer need ~ is that this in and of itself not only relieves us from our burdens, it also creates a new space. And this space, all new and clear, provides us with openings to start doing new things. To explore new avenues. Embark upon new adventures ~ not just during our vacations, but perhaps especially in our day to day lives...

And it is these new avenues and adventures that can bring a sparkle into our lives even long after we came home from our vacation...
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