Enjoy your holidays - and at least try to really switch off
It is that time of year again, and no, by that I don’t mean Christmas yet. The months of July and August for most people are for going on holiday, taking a break and spending time in the sun with family and friends. It is meant to be a time of relaxation, where the office world takes a break and becomes a little bit less busy than usual. Many of us in stressful and high intensity jobs, are desperate to take this time to relax and take a break. However, very few of us really can fully switch off, this is an art we all have to learn, to really fully live in the moment, and not worry about the next customer or project at home - then, the nicest time of the year for holidays really becomes that.
Many of us when we go on holidays, are still looking at their phones to regularly check emails or read up on the news to stay up to date with the world. It comes from a deep desire of self-importance and the fear to become insignificant and to be forgotten about by our colleagues very quickly if we don’t answer emails every now and then even while on holidays. We cannot switch off to let the stress and outstanding issues at home or in the office just be. So, the question is, can we learn it? The good news is yes, we can learn to really switch off.
The first thing we should do is to only spend time with our phone while on holidays in a very limited way. It might even be best not to have our work outlook program on our phones at all so the temptation of checking emails regularly from home is not as strong. Also, we should not have slack apps or anything like that on our phone while on holidays. Take a break from your phone - it will do you good.
A holiday period also usually has several phases of relaxation. The first phase, usually the first few days after arrival at our holiday destination is the time when we just want to sleep, relax and recharge our batteries. However, for most of us that are not in heavy manual labor that phase quickly passes and turn into a phase of creative productivity. We feel the need to do something and occupy ourselves. We cannot spend all day on a sun bed without feeling productive in any way. This is the most dangerous time for us to fall back into old habits and check our emails from home and use our productivity for checking on how things are going at home. Instead, we should use this phase of limited productivity (limited as we are still generally in holiday mode) to try things we never tried before, to discover new skills, as well as to take time to reflect on ourselves, our lives, and some things we never had time for in our day-to-day routine. This is the time when we are most creative and come up with new ideas and perspectives on things that will allow us to develop and improve once we are back in our daily routine. The last phase of the holiday is then the preparing to travel home phase - where after having really switched off we should be full of new energy. Together with of course the usual holiday blues.
Taking time out is needed and we should enjoy it. It is ok to really switch off while away but also to use the time we must come up with new inspirations and creative ideas and reflections we usually don’t have time for. It is ok not to work hard and enjoy summer for a while -we should enjoy that time of year and not worry about being irreplaceable in the office or at work. Taking time out and really being able to witch off and live in the moment is a skill – the ones who use it will be inspired with new ideas and thoughts that will help them once they go back into their stressful and hectic day to day routine. Summer is the best time of year - use it to switch off, be inspired and just enjoy for a while until autumn surely comes.
