Even though retired, I recently took a three-day sojourn, with my wife Jenny, to the beautiful township of Daylesford in regional Victoria. It took us just under two hours by car to get there from our home, including a minor detour after missing a freeway exit ramp. Though it was a little wet when we left, the sun was poking through the clouds by the time we got to our destination. The short break was wonderfully received, after a hectic first half of the year.
I’ve shared with friends that even after retiring from full time work, I found myself being as busy as when I was working in the corporate world.
Today, all the activities I am doing are things I love being a part of. They are not for any financial gain, but simply being rewarded by the act of my giving of my time and energy, and seeing the smiles, excitement, joy, and growth in the people I am working with. These include activities such as looking after our 3-year-old grandson two days a week, the 6th grader whom I am mentoring as a volunteer at a primary school one hour a week during the school year, IT graduates I am working with through the Australian Computer Society mentoring program, leading our men’s fellowship at church, or seeing the excitement on Jenny’s face when I drive her to a far-away shopping centre, or harvesting plums, mandarins and lemons or bok choy, tomatoes and lettuce from our home garden. Not to mention playing basketball with our other two grandsons when we're at their house, or seeing our daughter, son-in-law and son at home enjoying a home cooked meal, like a steamboat banquet I had prepared when celebrating a birthday. My involvement in two not-for-profit boards are also featured in my annual calendar.
Whatever the routine of life you may have or be involved in, I believe taking a holiday break is not only good for your mind and body but also good for your soul. This quote from Author E.S.Woods sums it up, “A vacation helps to relieve stress and boredom, gives us a change of scenery, provides us with adventure, and helps to bring us closer to the people in our lives.”
View of Lake Daylesford in the morning from the hotel restaurant balcony. Photo Credit: frommydeskathome.com
After all the activities I have been involved with since the beginning of this year, the change of scenery and routine provided me with the opportunity to recharge myself, and Jenny too. While at Daylesford, I enjoyed the early rise, seeing nature through the windows of our room and walking along pebbled paths of the hotel grounds. Rather than the daily walk from kitchen to breakfast table at home with coffee mugs in hand, strolling to the hotel restaurant with Jenny for breakfast and chatting to the hotel staff, appreciating the autumnal foliage, and breathing the crisp country air, were simply delightful. At times, depending on where the wind was blowing, we could smell the log fire smoke coming from the local chimneys surrounding the hotel. (See photo. Path to our hotel restaurant. Photo Credit: frommydeskathome.com)
On one occasion, while Jenny was being pampered at the hotel’s spa retreat, I had a few hours to relax with a favourite book in my hotel room with a hot drink by my side. Both were rarities in our lives.
Though it was only three days, I found the break relaxing and rejuvenating. I liken this to my mobile phone battery having to be recharged after a ‘heavy work-out’. As you know, if the mobile phone’s battery is close to ‘zero charge’, the phone is ‘smart’ enough to recommend that you switch it to safe mode, there-by reducing the drain on the phone’s battery.
I wonder sometimes if we humans are as smart as our mobile devices to forewarn when our internal ‘batteries’ need recharging before it’s too late. Often, we will continue working at tasks, beyond reasonable timeframes without considering our body’s capacity or our mental and emotional wellbeing.
Here are some excuses I have heard through the years, and my suspicions of their backstories:
1. There is no one else to do my work. Often such a comment is based on one’s self-pride. Perhaps suggesting that there is no one able or capable to do the work and that only you can do it. While there may be no one who could do the work as you would, there will always be someone who could do it, be it at a different speed, style, or effectiveness. They could even be better in all three ways if given the chance.
2. I have no time to go on a vacation. I could draw three conclusions from this statement. It is either that the amount of work that must be done is beyond the person’s daily capacity or that the resource allocation for the task is beyond one person or a feeble excuse to just stay at work to avoid the vacation. In the first two cases, something needs to be done to correct the imbalance, and a mindset change is required in the third case.
3. There is a deadline I must meet. This has to do with good time management and prioritisation. Note, I am not suggesting that you go on a vacation when an assignment is due the next day or week. With disciplined time management, you could plan for a short holiday within your work schedule, allowing you to be refreshed upon returning to continue your assignment, if not have it completed before the holiday is taken. Often deadlines are set with ample allowance for scope creep or delivery date drift, however when this contingency is exhausted, this becomes a situation beyond one’s control. Sometimes, as I have found in the past, you simply have to make a call after considering all factors.
Photo Credit: Media from Wix 4. I want to save up my holidays. While there may be a major event that may be on your travel calendar where an extended holiday is warranted, for example a wedding overseas, or a special anniversary requiring travel, health practitioners suggest that taking short holidays are better than not taking any breaks.
For all the reasons mentioned above for not taking a vacation, the benefits of a break from our daily routine of employment, study and even housework are well documented. However, while extended holidays can be problematic, not to mention the expensive cost of international travel and the uncertainly coupled with the regulatory requirements, as the current COVID-19 pandemic is still prevalent in many countries, the demands of today’s lifestyle almost necessitate us to consider taking, at least short holidays during the year. This could provide the benefits of keeping our body and mind ‘powered-up’ without the expense of a long holiday. What’s more, for those who have commitments to their employment where a long holiday could be a disruption to the business, a well-managed schedule of short holidays could be the answer for employees’ and their family’s health and wellbeing.
Using my mobile device analogy, taking a short holiday is like giving your device a quick ‘recharge’ as against giving it a full charge overnight.
Here are some benefits for taking a short vacation.
1. A short holiday can be cheap. One of the obvious benefits is that short holidays can be less a financial strain on the family budget. Travelling locally, like within the State, will involve less travelling expense to travelling abroad or interstate, but can provide you and your family the relaxation you all are looking for.
2. Family relationships. The bonding of family members on a holiday cannot be underestimated. Once out of the normal daily routine, you find that each member of the family, either among siblings, parents with children, or between couples, show more care and affection towards one another. Especially if they are traversing unfamiliar places or experiencing new adventures together, like bush hiking, canoeing, or experiencing a theme park roller coaster ride. Furthermore, going away as a family on a few short holidays rather than one long holiday allows you to spread out your quality time more evenly throughout the year. If a family member, like an adult son or daughter is unable to make it to one of the short holidays due to work or social commitments, they are likely to be able to make it to the next one rather than missing out entirely. Depending on the allocation of household duties, all who are involved, will be able to look forward to the short holidays as welcome breaks from their normal routine and chores.
Making a short trip to visit relatives can also be a rewarding holiday for both the traveler and the host family. Recently my sister, who lives in Perth, Western Australia visited us in Melbourne. It was such a joyous occasion to have her stay with us, especially seeing her interact with our grandchildren, children, Jenny and our niece, who lives in Melbourne. Once again a short holiday to visit relatives can strengthen family bonds, despite the distances and years of living apart.
My sister from Perth on a recent trip to visit my family and I, at Brighton Beach, Victoria. Photo Credit: frommydeskathome.com
3. Stress relief. Today’s fast paced lifestyle can leave people more vulnerable to feeling stressed than ever before. Many health literatures have identified various ways of dealing with stress which arise in our daily lives, whether caused when negotiating traffic to and from work, getting school children ready and dropping them off at school, meeting work deadlines, managing the Saturday ‘sports-run’, mowing the lawn and shopping, and so on. We need to recognise this feeling and take action in implementing effective ways of dealing with it. A good way of relieving such stress is to take several short holidays during the year, helping to reduce the stress rather than letting it build up over the year.
4. Sightseeing opportunities. Taking smaller holidays to different places allows you to see more locations and learn more about different places than if you spend your entire holiday in one place. And like me, if you are into photography, or enjoy experiencing the local café culture or trying varying cuisines, visiting various places of interests during each short vacation would allow you expand your ‘portfolio’ of sites visited. While at Daylesford, I decided to experience the local hospitality at the local bakery coffee shop. I sat myself down at the widow and ordered a latte, sausage roll with tomato sauce and a vanilla slice. Not only did I enjoy my order, but I was able to see the foot-traffic of both locals and tourists along Daylesford main road. Even though I had my camera, I was enjoying the vanilla slice and soaking up the moment too much to worry about taking any photos.
Vincent Street. Main street through Daylesford township. Photo Credit: frommydeskathome.com
5. Something to look forward to. Looking forward to something pleasurable or good helps in your wellbeing by getting you motivated to either start on something, for example, planning a future event, or ending a task before the vacation. A 2015 study reported in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, found that having something positive to look forward to reduces stress and boosts mood. Actively imagining, and looking forward to something, can make you more optimistic. Marriage and family therapist Kimberly Diggles says, “We know anticipating something positive helps to maintain dopamine levels in your brain. So just the very idea of anticipating something good can physically change your brain chemistry so you feel happy.”
Photo Credit: Mantas Hesthaven on Unsplash
As I enjoyed the three-day break at Daylesford recently, you might wish to consider planning a short break after reading this essay. In fact, the break and location was so pleasurable that I plan to return to the Daylesford area the same time next year. This is already making feel happy!
Enjoy!
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