Planning a vacation can be stressful and often returning from vacation can leave you feeling tired and in need of a vacation from your vacation.
Now, there’s a difference between feeling stressed from vacation and feeling tired from a vacation. If you’re tired it may mean you had a jammed-packed schedule and there’s nothing wrong with that if you had fun and did the things you wanted to do. However, if you return stressed, I think you’re doing it all wrong and need to rethink how you’re vacationing. The goal of a true vacation is to have fun, explore and learn or to relax, and rejuvenate your mind and body from the stresses of your daily life.
Consider the following to make your next vacation the latter, even if you experienced the former.
Plan and schedule: Planning and organizing help to give you peace of mind and ground you in the fact that your vacation is taken care of. It doesn’t mean you don’t have room to add or take away but, knowing and having certain elements planned and confirmed gives you confidence and having confidence allows you to relax. It’s super important to schedule downtime on those itineraries set to explore and discover. It’s also important if you’re booking spa appointments to have reservations as some resorts and spas are popular and can be booked well in advance. It can be frustrating and cause you to have to rearrange your itinerary if you don’t.
Be aware of your budget and the cost of things: You can prepay for many things and especially fully scheduled itineraries. If your vacation is one to enjoy resort and spa services, you’ll want to know and factor in those services and understand how the spa facilities work. What’s included and what’s not. If they have packages that make more sense than individual services. Understanding spa services and packages can be costly, you’ll want to investigate in advance to avoid sticker shock and added stress that your budget is blown or, you don’t get to enjoy this activity.
Unplug from Work! This is a biggie: It’s hard to relax if you always have part of you glued to work and other responsibilities. Before your vacation, make a plan to have your responsibilities covered by either staff, other employees, or personal friends and family. Be clear about your time away and your accessibility while you’re away. I implore you to designate an ECP (Emergency Contact Person) for work and home. The work ECP will be briefed and given access to important items and can be your go-to person to take care of things. If you must get involved or it’s something that cannot do in your absence, they’ll at least be that person to provide you with concise information which will lessen your involvement in most cases. The personal ECP can assist and take care of those matters of the home and family.
If it’s not possible for you to completely cut off work-related communication, set specific times when you will work and times you will be unavailable. Try not to respond to everything at all times.
Determine in advance what type of vacation you are embarking on. Fun and exploration or rest and relaxation and plan accordingly. Start with a vacation state of mind: Set standards for enjoying your vacation before you embark upon your vacation. Prepare to be prepared for the unexpected. And, finally, don’t sweat the small stuff and set vacation goals.
Woosah!