English: Mavericks Surf Contest 2010. Français : Édition 2010 du concours de surf de Mavericks. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
How many times have you heard someone say, “We need a vacation to recover from our vacation”? How many times have YOU said that? Certainly there are reports of the perfect vacation where the time away exceeded expectations; however, it’s more common to try to cram a year’s worth of fun in to a couple of weeks, and then end up experiencing a mixture of stress and disappointment, while vowing to do it differently the next time around.
Here are a few suggestions on how to not be disappointed on a vacation:
- Don’t suspend your daily devotions—the biblical purpose of times of rest is to restore our connection to God.
- Set realistic expectations—your visit with the kids and the in-laws won’t be a repeat of that time you were alone in Mexico…
- Don’t pack too much in—leave a little margin to catch your breath on either side of your days away.
- Don’t suspend the routines that bring happiness to your every day life—if you’re a morning person who loves to jog, then wake up early and enjoy your run.
- Try to integrate “vacation” in to your every day life—if we can maintain a rhythm of worship, work, rest, and play in our daily lives, then our vacations are less likely to be rushed attempts at recovering what we’ve lost throughout the year.
- Surf. Enough said.