Americans are addicted to work. Or perhaps they’re just afraid of taking time off. Either way, the result is a lot of unused vacation days and stressed-out workers hanging on by a thread. While the grind can help you get ahead, taking time for yourself is just as important. In truth, taking frequent vacations is good for your work life and mental health.
So, ready to make good use of all your vacation days? Here’s how to get the most out of your time off with a vacation that will breathe some fresh air back into your life, improve your mental power, and get you ready to take on anything.
Table of Contents
- 1. Know Your Purpose
- 2. Savor the Planning Process
- 3. Stick to Your Budget
- 4. Dream About Your Trip
- 5. Prioritize Your Itinerary
- 6. Set Realistic Goals
- 7. Don’t Forget to Unplug
- 8. Maintain Good Habits (While Still Indulging)
- 9. Lose Yourself in Your Hobbies
- 10. Take the Time to Relax
- 11. Get Plenty of Sleep
- 12. Take Tons of Pictures
- 13. Return to Life Gently
- Don’t Stress Over Airfare: Let Next Vacay Find You the Best Deals on Flights
1. Know Your Purpose
The best vacations for your mental health are the ones that cater to your specific needs. Vacations can provide a slew of benefits, but if they’re not focused on what you need out of your vacation, you won’t get the value from them that you should.
So, think about why your upcoming vacation is important. What do you want to get out of your vacation and what do you want a break from? You may want to connect with your loved ones, try out new experiences, or practice mindfulness and meditation.
On the other hand, you may be trying to avoid work, academic responsibilities, or maybe specific people—they know who they are.
Identifying the reasons you want a vacation—the good, the bad, and the ugly you’re trying to avoid—can help you capitalize on your time away. Your vacation won’t exactly feel like a vacation unless it’s doing what you want it to do: giving you a break from the stressors in your life and a chance to rejuvenate.
2. Savor the Planning Process
Don’t wait until your vacation to reap all of your trip’s benefits. Start with the planning process.
Savoring the little details of putting your trip together can positively affect your mental health, reduce stress, and improve your overall well-being. It’s kind of like the countdown to Christmas or your birthday that you experienced as a kid. You looked forward to your presents, time off from school, and spending time with your family. You imagined the fun things you would do, the gifts you would get, and all those fantasies made getting to Christmas vacation or your birthday that much easier.
We may be grown, but we’re still kids at heart, and different things can excite us in similar ways. Psych yourself up for your trip by imagining the things you’ll do, the places you’ll go, and the break it’ll provide from your work life and stress. Even anticipating the things you’re looking forward to can elicit positive emotions and reduce your current stress and anxiety. So, don’t skip the little details. Allow your imagination to explore all the possibilities of your mental health vacation.
Make your trip planning an enjoyable process from the moment you decide to go to the minute you’re headed out the door.
3. Stick to Your Budget
Few things cause more stress than realizing you’ve gone over budget while traveling. Suddenly, all that joy and relaxation are gone with the wind, as your mental health vacation becomes another source of stress, anxiety, and depression. Not exactly a great help for your mental or physical health.
So, do your budgeting ahead of time.
If you’re set on a specific destination, research how much that vacation will cost and consider ways to save for your trip. However, keeping your options open and focusing on the experience you want rather than a destination may prove more beneficial and less stressful. You’ll have more flexibility to plan your vacation, take advantage of flight deals, and budget around the experience you want.
Be thorough in your planning so you know precisely what your budget entails; we’re talking cost of airfare, accommodations, food, activities, and anything else you can dream up.
Once you’ve figured out your budget, stick to it. Create a cash cushion for emergency purchases, but don’t plan to spend more than you’ve budgeted unless necessary.
Pro-tip: If you have a habit of spending more than you planned or just want to have a vacation free of money worries, consider experiences with all-inclusive packages. You can pay for everything in advance and enjoy your vacation worry-free.
4. Dream About Your Trip
Dreaming about your trip isn’t just good for overall morale; thinking about your vacation also comes with some nifty mental health benefits. One study found that people planning a vacation had better well-being, fewer negative feelings, and more positive effects than people with no vacation plans.
So, don’t be afraid to dream if you want to experience the happiness and pre-vacation high that comes before you even walk about the door. Talk about your trip with family and friends to increase your anticipation and give your life satisfaction a bit of a boost. As you grind through your daily routine, picturing your upcoming vacation can help improve productivity and reduce anxiety.
Dreaming about your trip is like having a built-in defense system against negative emotions. When things get hard and stress starts to creep in, just picture your happy place: on vacation, having fun.
5. Prioritize Your Itinerary
Halfway through the planning process, you may find yourself with a trip itinerary a mile long. But your vacation time is precious, especially when taking it for your mental health. You want to spend it doing the things you’re most looking forward to. So, make the most of your time and rank your plans in terms of importance. Create your itinerary around the things you want to see and do most, and then fill in additional time with other activities of interest.
Depending on time and location, consider spreading out the main attractions so that you see one or two big-ticket items a day, with a few smaller activities sprinkled throughout. This way, if you get tired or start to feel overwhelmed, you can take a break without feeling as though you’ve missed out.
While leaving some of your travel ideas on the cutting board may be disappointing, your mental health can only benefit from this foresight.
6. Set Realistic Goals
Setting goals goes hand in hand with planning your itinerary. Your vacation days shouldn’t be packed end-to-end with activities. If you don’t leave gaps for free time and relaxing, you’ll find yourself overwhelmed and missing out on all of the mental health benefits that usually accompany a vacation.
So, don’t push yourself too far out of your comfort zone. Unattainable goals won’t help with stress reduction; they’ll only pile on more stress and negatively affect your trip. Instead, set realistic goals and expectations that you’ll be able to meet: reading a few good books, visiting one or two museums, or taking old town tours and ATV rides.
Remember, you only have limited vacation days. Trying to pack in too many new things or everything you’ve ever wanted to do in those days is unrealistic and sets you up for failure.
Make the best of the time you do have. If you find it’s not nearly enough, you may need to consider taking more frequent vacations in the future. More vacations are something your work life and mental health will benefit from.
7. Don’t Forget to Unplug
The point of a vacation is to take a break. From what you may ask? Anything and everything that’s causing you stress. Nine times out of ten, work plays a significant role in that stress, but it can also come from other responsibilities outside of work, like school and home life. Whatever the case may be, your vacation is a respite from all of those problems and responsibilities normally dogging every step. The last thing you want to do is bring them on vacation with you.
So, set up boundaries. Ensure you have everything squared away at work and home, and then unplug. No work emails or messages and no texts from home unless it’s an emergency or someone just checking in. Consciously choosing to unplug from your stressors can positively impact the restoration factor of your vacation.
And while you don’t have to throw out your mobile devices, setting them aside could prove beneficial. The internet and social media rarely do your mood and mental health any good. Research shows that even having your mobile device present can detract from making meaningful connections.
So, if you want to boost the mental health benefits of your vacations, slow down. Take some time to unplug from everything and enjoy living in the moment.
8. Maintain Good Habits (While Still Indulging)
Vacations are often a time to indulge. Lazy mornings mean sleeping in and maybe skipping that routine workout. Delicious new food awaits around every corner, and we mean that literally. In places like Bangkok, the vendors are plentiful, and the street food is cheap!
In the face of all that temptation, it can be easy to forgo healthy habits. Routines can fall by the wayside, and all-inclusive cruise vacations, resort stays, and new restaurants undoubtedly make it hard to refrain. But, time and again, the science shows that physical and mental health are intricately tied.
That’s not to say indulging while on vacation will ruin your mental health. On the contrary, mindful indulgences can help satisfy cravings and lift your mood. The key to your happiness lies in the balance between self-control and self-indulgence.
If you struggle with this balance, make plans to fit in physical activity, pamper yourself, and relax. Intrusive thoughts can ruin the moments we want to indulge and cause bouts of anxiety, but being mindful of your indulgences and their purpose can help improve your overall well-being.
9. Lose Yourself in Your Hobbies
Vacations provide plenty of free time, and there’s no better or more fulfilling way to spend it than doing the things you love. Obsessed with reading? Find a peaceful spot and spend the day with your book. Head over heels for the ocean? Plan a beach day and snorkel along the coast or learn how to surf.
Travel is the perfect time to indulge yourself in your hobbies or try out something new for the first time.
Not everyone has time in their daily life to dedicate to hobbies. And while you may want to work on changing that, a break from work is a great time to get started and discover, or re-discover, the things that make you happy.
10. Take the Time to Relax
Not all vacations are created equal. According to the Harvard Business Review, the importance of relaxing during your vacation can’t be understated. Stressful trips can quickly evaporate all of the positive impacts of taking a vacation and lead to several poor outcomes.
While there are numerous reasons why travel is good for your mental health, here are four reasons the science says you should make relaxing on your vacation a priority.
- It decreases the risk of heart disease and heart attacks.
- It reduces stress, anxiety, and depression.
- It positively impacts overall health and life satisfaction.
- It improves brain function and productivity.
Make self-care a priority on your vacation, and don’t hesitate to take stock of your mental health, and physical health, during your trip. If you’re not happy with your plans, there’s no need to stick to them—provided you haven’t already paid or can’t get a refund.
Tired? There’s nothing saying you can’t hole up at your vacation rental and relax. Feeling overwhelmed by your itinerary? Scrap your plans for the day. Buy a ticket for the ferry, park yourself on the beach, or find a bar with a view and enjoy some you time.
It’s your vacation, so you decide how to spend it.
11. Get Plenty of Sleep
Getting enough sleep while you’re away is crucial to capitalizing on the mental health benefits of a vacation. Sleep benefits your body and mind by allowing your brain to rest and reset, boosting its ability to process information, recall memories, and seal in positive emotions.
Additionally, sleep plays a critical role in many mental illnesses and disorders, from depression to ADHD. So, if you’re traveling with a mental illness or disorder, take note. It’s even more important to take time and ensure you’re getting the proper sleep your body needs to benefit from the positive effects of travel.
Traveling may give you the freedom to keep odd hours and stay up or sleep in as late as you desire, but try to keep a schedule. While it sounds like a lot less fun, your body and mental health will certainly thank you for it.
12. Take Tons of Pictures
You’ll want to have the opportunity to look back on all your memories, and a photo or two—or two hundred—is bound to bring a smile to your face. And that’s not all it can do. Studies have shown that recalling positive memories can help in reducing the symptoms of depression. So, your photos serve a purpose other than just posting to your Instagram page.
It’s a comforting thought to know that when life gets you down or you start to feel anxious, you can refer back to your photos and the memories of your trip to inspire positive emotions and help kiss that anxiety and stress goodbye.
13. Return to Life Gently
After all of that rest and relaxation, you probably won’t be ready to dive headfirst back into your daily routine the minute you return home. You may not be mentally or emotionally prepared for all of that. So, ease yourself back in gently. Give yourself a few days to acclimate back to life at home.
Think about scheduling your return to coincide with the start of the weekend. Another option is to speak with your boss and set up a few days of remote work before coming back into the office.
Be gentle with yourself and your expectations. Don’t bank on all of the benefits of your mental health vacation hitting you all at once. It may take a few days for some things to set in, but easing yourself back in slowly will help to keep you from feeling overwhelmed and allow you to bask in all the benefits and good things you’ve experienced while away.
Don’t Stress Over Airfare: Let Next Vacay Find You the Best Deals on Flights
With all the good you’re about to do for your mental health, don’t let vacation planning stress put you on edge.
Rather than spending hours and precious bits of sanity finding the cheapest flights, Next Vacay can do it for you. Our team of savvy travel experts knows how to find the best deals for destinations worldwide. All you have to do is sign up, and then the deals come right to you.
You book everything directly through the airline, which means no middleman between you and your trip itinerary. Everything is simple and easy, so you never have to worry or stress out over flying.
The best vacations for mental health are the ones you don’t have to lose sleep over. So, get a full night’s sleep and start flying high with Next Vacay.
