Practical reminders, common sense approaches and clever solutions to avoid everyday challenges and live your best life.
You've just returned home from you best vacation ever, and you can't wait to tell all your friends and family what a good time you had. However, as soon as you step inside your front door, you start to feel less happy, maybe even a little dissatisfied. You, my friend, have just encountered vacation letdown.
This feeling isn't just in your imagination. Scientific studies support the idea that returning to your normal routines can quickly wipe out all those happy vacation vibes. But vacation letdown isn't inevitable and unavoidable. You can fight those post-vacation blues and make your vacation buzz last longer by following these simple tips.
Anticipate and Plan Ahead
Even before you leave on your trip, get organized and set a few actions in motion so you don't return to the chaos of multiple home and work fires that you must put out RIGHT NOW.
Clean your home, do your laundry, pay your bills, and, especially, make sure your bed is all made up with fresh linens, ready for you to collapse into on your first night home. At work, set up out-of-office messages and make sure your backup staff is prepped and ready to take over. Finish everything on your desk that you can before you leave so it isn't waiting for you when you return.
Also, give yourself at least a day or two at home before you return to work. That way, you can ease yourself back into your routine without juggling office tasks at the same time. Then, when you do walk into your office, you'll have the energy to focus on those, and only those, issues.
Bring Your Vacation Home
The whole point of traveling to far-flung destinations is to experience new things and meet new people. Incorporate the best of those things into your life when you return home as a way of preserving and extending the memories.
- Was the food yummy? Recreate your favorite meal from your trip and share it with friends and family. Similarly, incorporate the music of your vacation locale into your playlist.
- When you feel your vacation vibe slipping away, visualize yourself in the spot you enjoyed the most with the people who made you happiest. You can even use your vacation as your meditation "happy place."
- Leisurely flip through your vacation photos and share your favorites. Telling the story behind each reinforces your memories and reminds you of why you love to travel.
- When shopping for vacation souvenirs, look for things that are both useful and have special meaning. For example, a serving bowl handcrafted by a local artisan will remind you of that vacation every time you use it.
- If you made a special connection with locals or fellow travelers, make an effort to keep in touch. Reminiscing with them helps to keep your vacation memories alive.
Start Planning Your Next Vacation
That's right. Use all your newfound energy and insight to help you pick your next perfect vacation location. This way, you can build on what you've learned about traveling and about yourself as a traveler to make the next vacation even better than the last.
Vacations take a lot of planning and, often, a lot of money. Hang on to the good vibes long after you've returned home by consciously bringing your real world and your vacation world together into one harmonious whole.
