And Away We Go 10/8/2023

By: Jennifer Richardson Holt

At the time this is published, I will be on vacation.  If you’re a long-time reader, then I know what you are thinking. You are concerned that you are about to get another lengthy diatribe about my beloved vacation destination of choice.  While I could easily go on for an indefinite amount of time about my beloved mountains I will refrain.  I will however tell you two things up front today. I cannot make any promises regarding the length of this composition and how it may play out.  If this turns out to be on the side of brevity, then so be it. Hopefully you will not be too disgusted and understand that I am composing in the midst of vacation preparations.  You might also be pleased I am not writing whilst on vacation because then there is the real possibility that you would be almost guaranteed the mountains to be the topic at hand. The second thing I can tell you is that I am actually, still going to talk about vacation.

I have come to the conclusion that vacation time moves at a very similar speed to the time that passes during the weekend.  And I know, time is time, and each minute has sixty seconds and all of that whatnot. But the thing is, time isn’t really all the same, is it? Because I am quite sure that I am not the only one to have noticed that the hours of the weekend are not remotely sixty minutes. I’d say that they may be forty tops, and I’d say that is being generous.  It seems to me that any period of time set aside as a respite, flies like a peregrine falcon with turbo boosters. If it is an opportunity to relax or do things that are more on the personal preference instead of the mandatory procedure type of thing, then just go ahead and prepare that it will be short lived at best and an utter blur at worst.  Now, I am going to assume that the time-space continuum does not in fact have some recreational hole in it that causes such shenanigans. Actually, I wonder if there is some strategic procedure one could use to in fact make leisure time seem longer.  Honestly, I am not even asking for longer. I will be satisfied with the appropriate amount of time that it is supposed to be.

Not only do we have the challenge of time (whether in reality or in the mind is a non-issue) moving terribly quickly, but we also have that one little factor that catches me off guard at the end of every vacation. That surprising little tidbit is that, while vacations are for rest and relaxation, I somehow always seem to return from one with the need to rest from my relaxation. How does that work?  I am sure sometimes we do try to pack too much excitement and activity into our cations, be they va or stay.  I suppose under those circumstances, being weary afterwards makes sense.  But then there are those times where one is certain that they really and truly did take it easy and take a break from overstimulation and yet and still, upon returning to the normal grind they are worn out. So, we have yet another apparent psychological mystery of an excursion.  In pondering it, it could be travel (if it is part of things). I know being in a plane or car for a long time can drain you for whatever reason.  But there seems to be more to it than that.

In thinking long and hard about it, I think it is who we have become that causes all these mysterious trip side effects.  It seems to me that we have put so much emphasis on busyness and work, that we even try to bring it into our play.  I think Americans might be the absolute worst at this. I’ve seen that other nations have large amounts of vacation times given to employees that are always used and enjoyed yet we seem to be the type that not only are we not given nearly the time to be away from our work but we almost require forced participation in it. And since it is something that we don’t take as seriously we don’t really know how to do it.  Maybe that is why it wears us out so.  We don’t know how to genuinely rest so when we actually try to we aren’t very good at it.  If we could only realize that rest isn’t just enjoyable that it is actually crucial, what a difference it could make.  If we took recovery from the everyday grind seriously maybe both our vacation and our work could benefit. I don’t know. I could be wrong. I wonder if doing so could even make the work day time not progress like a crippled snail in cold molasses. If we could get respite to linger and work to move along, what a wonder that would be! I think that is something we could all appreciate.  So I will do my best to work hard and rest well.