I love taking vacations. I don’t take them all that often, so when we do go somewhere special for a long weekend, I really look forward to it. I enjoy being able to relax and unwind, and forget about the stressful things that have been on my mind. On the other hand, sometimes I find that on a vacation, I spend too much time purposefully trying not to think about those stressful things.
Most of the time, I try to get all of my homework, chores, and other duties done before I go on vacation. I figure that if the whole point of going on vacation is to relax, I’ll be completely going in the other direction by putting off all of my stressful tasks. And, in a worst case scenario, I might have to try to finish these tasks while on vacation, which will take away from the “stress-free” perk of vacations.
However, sometimes there are things that I can’t finish before I go on vacation, like a report I have to write with a friend, or some kind of a project that I can only finish at school. These things should be things that I can put out of my mind, since I can’t do anything about them, but somehow, they tend to weigh heavily on my mind, as I don’t look forward to having to work on them after the vacation is over. And then I feel as if, sometimes, I spend so much time trying not to think about these things that I forget my original goal, which was to relax and have fun on vacation.
Sometimes I wonder if, while on vacation, I’m almost hesitant to enjoy myself. You know the saying, “Time flies when you’re having fun”? Well, on a vacation, there is only so much time, and sometimes I find myself hesitating to look away from the clock, lest time travel a bit too fast. An example of this might be when I was on vacation at my grandparent’s house, and I was reading a book in my (guest) bedroom. When I glanced up at the clock, I was shocked to find that it was almost 1:30 in the afternoon. The last time that I had checked was when it was 9 in the morning, so I felt like my day had just sped by.
As I’ve mentioned before, I like having a grip on the time of day. I don’t like it when I lose track of time, as then I get the feeling that I’ve lost hours of my day. However, maybe that’s the point of a vacation. Not worrying about what time it is, or how much time is left, or when you’ll have to return to the real world and real world troubles. Maybe the point of a vacation is to enjoy yourself, and let the day speed by, so that you can forget your stresses.
I will always feel that vacations don’t last nearly long enough. However, they are fun to look forward to, and even more fun to be on. Just remember, the whole reason that you’re on vacation is to relax and enjoy yourself, and you can’t do that unless you give in, and stop looking at the clock. See you next week!
“Reprinted from Hagel Publications, Inc. dba as Courier Newspapers”