Vacations: You’re Doing It Right

I’m going to be 100% honest here: I am terrible when it comes to taking time off, and have absolutely no concept of relaxing. Perhaps it’s because I’ve constantly been working in places where long vacations are a joke, and you’re lucky to get a long weekend, let alone a full week or two off. That’s one of the many perks of teaching overseas though: long vacations.

My trip to Japan evolved from being a short weekend trip to an eleven day vacation. I’ve never been on a proper vacation before. Usually, I would be visiting family or friends, and my days would be filled to the brim with scheduled things. This time was different though. I had over a week to simply wander around Japan as I pleased, visiting places I’d never been and experiencing the country by myself.

Out of the eleven days I spent in Japan, only five of them were spent with my friends from when I lived in Japan. For the other six days, I decided to explore Western and Southern Japan, going to cities like Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Fukuoka. During those six extra days, something happened that I hadn’t experienced before.

I relaxed.

It sounds rather obvious, but studies show that it takes over three consecutive days off from your regular schedule for the feeling of vacation to set in, so I’d never had that feeling before, with work and school taking over the last decade of my life. I began to sleep better, I felt better, and anyone who follows my website as well would notice, my drive to write hit an all-time high, writing every night about the day before. I was reminded as to why I spent so much time studying Japanese, because somehow, I’d forgotten how much I loved it.

Vacations are important. There’s a reason we’re all legally entitled to a certain number of vacation days. Our health, both physical and mental, benefit from it more than we really can imagine. Vacations don’t need to involve crossing the country or ocean, you simply need to get away from your regular life. Go camping. Stay in a hotel a few cities away. Indulge and let yourself be a tourist. Bring your camera and take lots of photos. Sleep in late, eat well, and see everything you can.

Despite the fact I lived in Japan for a year and a half, there were countless things I hadn’t seen because I was too busy trying to work. Over the span of three days, I was able to cross three things off my bucket list. That’s what a vacation is for: doing the things you’ve always wanted to do, and seeing the things you’ve always wanted to see.

Even though we’re drawing close to the end of the summer, make sure you take some time for yourself soon. If you have a few vacation days banked, don’t waste them on having a few long weekends, but give yourself a proper week off when you can. Your body and mind will thank you. I know mine did!