Having post vacation blues? Stay positive your vacation has a lot to teach you!!
It is very common to experience discomfort and distress when you and your family are getting back into your everyday routines of work, school and daily chores in general, following a great vacation. It is perfectly normal also to feel tired and consumed, so it is important to stay positive, reflect on the vacation lessons and give yourself a proper amount of time to re-adjust and to get back to reality.
Stay positive, vacations has a lot to teach you!!
Vacation offers time for gratitude – Initiate a family discussion about what you all mostly enjoyed, the different experiences you lived, the places you visited, the great memories you have created, what the vacation offered you and how valuable your everyday life is when you are together. This will create a great family spirit and an attitude of gratitude for the vacation itself, for each other and for all your blessings and time spent together.
Sometimes a vacation experience could be an initiator to start making new life changes, it could wake up in you a desire to change some aspects about your life, especially if you feel fed up or bored with how things are like when you got back in your everyday life. Listen to your inner-self and figure out what it is that needs to be changed for you to become happier and fulfilled, it could be a change in job, enrolling in a new course, getting involved in charity work… find it and make it a new goal for you.
Think about the things that you enjoyed doing while on break and decide to incorporate them more into your regular life; and these could vary from using less technology, watching less TV, feeling calmer and less stressful, adopting new healthy habits and sleeping patterns.…. consider the ways in which you can achieve what you aspire for and take simple baby steps towards it.
Vacation builds resilience – Think of all the situations that you have encountered that were not in the plan, (weather, children conflicts, dealing with different needs and preferences…) remember how you overcame them in a positive, creative and maybe fun way because you were on vacation and not wanting to ruin the family mood or affect the overall spirit. Re-think the strategies you opted for to solve your problems and how you helped your family members to stay focused. Bring that resilience into your daily life and opt for an optimistic post vacation attitude in resolving problems and approaching obstacles you face in general. Perhaps with an attitude of flexibility you will allow yourself to flow easier through difficult times.
Vacation develops your negotiation skills especially when conflicts and differences arise among family members or friends traveling together. You find yourself more willing to negotiate and seek a solution everyone can accept. Such situations teach you how to find balance between your needs and preferences and the needs of others, you get to appreciate group/family time as well as your personal space and respect individual choices. This is a great reminder and it would be great to incorporate this skill in your “ordinary life” and not to forget yourself within any relationship system (family, team, group of friends) and develop your own sense of individuality and freedom within a group or family.
Vacation develops your social skills – being on a vacation, with family or friends, makes you more open and sociable in general. It brings you in contact with them and with new people, and reminds you how easy to develop connections when you are willing. This is a great lesson to apply! Stay connected, interact, meet quality people, and enhance your relationships. After all, “the quality of your life is determined by the quality of the relationships you have”.
Every experience carries a new learning. You have experienced a different culture, breathtaking sceneries, a new type of food, or even visited a new place in your own country etc., this is a great aspect to consider as you became more knowledgeable and maybe you have a new perspective of the world around you. You have another vacation to look forward I hope, plan it well and let it be truly alive.
Linda Chaccour – ACC – Certified Youth, Parent and Family Coach
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