Every year I get away with my family to an overseas holiday location: I have been doing this for so long that I have lost count of the amount of countries I have visited, the number of sites I have seen and the tours I have been on.
This yearly holiday was built up to be another exciting adventure that had been planned months before, even though I never actually read what I was doing and where I was going until the days leading up to my departure. All I remember was planning the trip to get away and take a break from life.
When I caught up with friends over the Christmas break I was frequently asked, “Are you going away for the holidays?”, to which I would excitedly reply YES and rattle off another exotic location or destination far, far away.
I calculated that, in my many years of travel I have logged up a great many miles and covered just about every continent in the world. Over time I noticed that my trips gradually decreased in length from two months, to several weeks, to a week, when I was often wondering why I was travelling in the first place?
Was it something to do with appreciating historical landmarks, natural wonders, meeting and connecting to the local people or was I trying to take a break from my life? These questions would often resurface and I couldn’t quite understand why.
Recently I returned from a short holiday trip overseas with my family. Whilst enjoying the sightseeing and connecting with the gorgeous local people, I just didn’t feel as though I was truly being or enjoying me. I engaged in all the tourist activities, relaxed by the pool, read a book, visited historical monuments… but felt as though my days were not being fully lived. I noticed I was getting very tired during the day, napping regularly and often looking for excuses to eat, even though my body was clearly showing me I wasn’t hungry. I could feel in my body that something wasn’t right.
The vitality that I know myself to have was gone. It didn’t make sense – I was on my yearly holidays!
I noticed that the typical tourists’ day consists of:
- Sleeping in,
- Heading down to a late breakfast with a smorgasbord of food and drink,
- Being driven around by a local tour guide to a tourist attraction,
- Returning to the hotel for lunch,
- Swimming in the hotel pool followed by more drinks and food by the bar,
- Afternoon nap,
- Shower and dress for pre-dinner drinks,
- Late dinner or an evening out in the city.
Although this was the rhythm of the holiday crowd, I felt as if I was missing my usual rhythm. I felt out of whack and wasn’t truly enjoying myself… I wasn’t truly enjoying me… I felt like I was putting the needs of others first as a way of not disrupting the status quo, to keep things light and happy on the surface and to keep up with the holiday spirit. Did I have an ideal or a belief about holiday etiquette and how a holiday should be?
But the question that kept repeating itself was… “What was I wanting to get away from and what in my life was I wanting to take a break from?”
I then realised….
I realised from my experience on my recent holiday that I was living the rhythm of the ‘yearly holiday’ and not the rhythm that supported me. I could now see that I was taking a break from me so that I could live the holiday rhythm. It was much easier to plod along with everyone and fit into their holiday rhythm rather than feel how great my rhythm was for me. Even though it felt great choosing what was right for me and my body (which was very different from others’ choices), I didn’t want to stand out and look like the odd one out. But then I question myself, “what was I actually wanting to blend in with?” Late-nights out? Overeating? Sleeping in? Indulging in food several times a day? When I looked at it like this I was able to break the craziness of ‘trying to blend in’ and I felt the power of my daily rhythm and the absoluteness it brings to my body – so why wouldn’t I want to let this shine out?
It became clearer…..
By day three of my 10 day long trip I got my STOP moment! I felt sluggish, heavy and there was a level of irritability that was slowly being felt. I realised then and there that I needed to stop following the rhythm of a ‘typical (yearly) holiday’, as it no longer supported me. I chose to come back to my natural daily rhythm.
I woke and felt to make this holiday not about ‘a getaway to take a break from life’, BUT about taking the full me on this trip. I brought back my natural rhythm in the day and went about living and enjoying me in each moment.
Once I claimed that the way I go about living my daily rhythm was truly about what felt great for me, things started to shift. I no longer felt the need to do what others wanted whilst on holiday. I spent more time listening to what felt right for me and how I wanted to enjoy this holiday. My holiday rhythm is actually the same as my day to day rhythm because there is nothing to take a break from or to get away from except me.
There was nothing to get away from as I was truly enjoying being me.
What did this look like?
I decided that I would choose what to do in the day rather than waiting to hear what others were doing. This meant that I didn’t feel like I was a ‘party pooper’. I joined my family on sightseeing trips, I also made choices to return to the hotel if I felt tired and needed to rest for a while. I made changes to the way I ate and waited to feel whether I wanted to eat instead of eating because we were heading out for a meal or everyone was getting the afternoon cravings for a sweet treat.
I carried healthy snacks and water for longer journeys in boats, trains and buses and always took an extra piece of clothing to keep me comfortable and warm. I honoured myself by going to bed when I felt tired. I noticed and appreciated that my hotel roommate would turn down the volume on the TV and respectfully turn off the lights to not disturb me. These simple adjustments during the day made me feel so much lighter as I was returning to my natural rhythm and playful self.
Yes, I must admit that it freaked out my family when I woke early (whilst on holidays!!!) to start on work projects on my iPad. I retreated to the bathroom as it was the only quiet space that would not disturb the others in the room whilst they slept. With a cushion as a seat and a blanket placed lovingly in the bathroom bathtub, I set to work: I felt at home even though I was miles away. Other days I would nestle myself into comfy couches in the front foyer or find a quiet spot near the pool for a while before returning to enjoy time with the family.
Yes, the family remarks came thick and fast as to why I was “doing any work whilst on holiday”.
- You should be relaxing it’s a holiday.
- Why are you doing that now?
- We’re on holidays to get away from work.
- You’re supposed to be having fun, not working.
All these questions had popped into my head well before they were asked of me. Yes, I did ponder on these but my body gave me the answer loud and clear; spending some time on the projects I am involved in actually wasn’t work at all and I realised from this holiday it actually supported me.
‘Connect to your rhythm and let the day unfold.’
If the day’s unfoldment included implementing my natural rhythm that supported me from home then I needed to look at and build it into my day and way of being while on holiday.
Taking this trip helped me realise that I don’t need to take a break from life when I am on my yearly holidays. I realised that when I am living the way I feel to live, it doesn’t matter where I am and what I’m doing – it’s about how I’m living in that moment. I came to appreciate how much I enjoy travelling and holidaying with my family and that there was no need to ‘get away’ or switch off or change who I am, even though I was miles away from home. I still enjoyed all that was on offer and by reconnecting to my natural rhythm I felt the same vitality as I did at home.
I now know how to avoid feeling sluggish whilst on holiday.
I have come to realise that:
- My yearly Holidays are what I choose them to be.
- Holidays can be a way to ‘take a break from life’ or ‘get away’ or Holidays can be an opportunity to enjoy what the world has to offer by bringing the full me to every day and moment of my trip… and therefore to fully enjoy being me…
Thanks to the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine I have come to know and feel the importance of living truthfully and bringing and ‘being’ the real me into each day… including my yearly holidays.
By Anonymous
The Truth about Serge Benhayon 
I can recall taking the typical holidays most people embarked upon, escaping from everyday life. And I would return reluctantly and have post holiday blues. It is nice to have a break or so but not to indulge and be reckless, they were typically my holidays.
I have got to a stage now that a break is to have a day with me, a day where I do or be what I want to do or be. That’s all that’s needed. We don’t need the typical long holidays, if we spent more time knowing who we are and being ok with being with us, then our holidays will truly be different.
‘I realised that when I am living the way I feel to live, it doesn’t matter where I am and what I’m doing – it’s about how I’m living in that moment’. Is such an important statement for anything and everything in our lives. If we plan too much, then it feels we are controlling every situation. If we respond to what is needed at that moment, then it is a different form of living.
Connecting to our natural rhythms is essential, then we are not being dragged into someone or something else’s. Otherwise IT controls you. When we live from connection, our holidaying is not the same and then those trips may have a different purpose.
So this means we can be away and still maintain our rhythms instead of going into someone else’s. It matters not where we are, it matters that we remain being with us where ever we go or are placed…
Project work and other work when approached lovingly can actually regenerate us beautifully. And when we work this way there is little need to take a break or a holiday from it. Hence the holiday can be used in a different way to regenerate further or to see where to take things next in work, relationships etc.
Weekends are often like a ‘mini’ holiday when we change our rhythm and look for a ‘break’ too – this is something to be aware of as then the weekend can deplete us rather than re-build us.
If we feel like we need a holiday and a ‘get-away’ then we could say that symbolically it is that we need this break from ourselves and how we have been with ourselves in what we have been doing. Perhaps we have been pushing ourselves or working in a way that is not sustainable, or have been stressing and worrying and taking on things that are not for us to carry etc. This is a great way to re-visit how we have been living. In that case a break is very much warranted, but it is all about how we use that break or time away – is it used to escape or to feel the body and feel what is it that one has allowed and will no longer allow again?
I used to take yearly breaks after working solidly all year round, with frequent colds and coughs throughout the year. During my extensive breaks, I would be sick for the first two weeks because I allowed myself to be with me. What a waste of a break, when this could happen all the time.
Now I don’t worry about having these long breaks anymore, just to be with me makes a massive difference in how I am with others. There are no get away trips anymore, as there is no getting away from anything anymore.
Bringing purpose back into your day, and honouring yourself makes such a difference, ‘I no longer felt the need to do what others wanted whilst on holiday. I spent more time listening to what felt right for me and how I wanted to enjoy this holiday. My holiday rhythm is actually the same as my day to day rhythm because there is nothing to take a break from or to get away from except me.
There was nothing to get away from as I was truly enjoying being me.’
Maybe when we are in a different location we can simply be a Loving reflection and that is all we need to be?
That ‘holiday spirit’ can take us on a journey far removed from the truth of who we are.
The feeling I get from this is how we are constantly leaning to connect to and move in a way that truly supports and honours our body without compromise – whether that is being at home, at work, away on holiday in whatever the way it may present, there’s this constant communication that never switches off, and our job is simply to keep responding to it.
Holidays – remaining true to ourselves no matter the location.
Remaining true to ourselves, and how we are living, our quality is always important, ‘I realised that when I am living the way I feel to live, it doesn’t matter where I am and what I’m doing – it’s about how I’m living in that moment.’
One life, so no matter where we are, our job is to bring us there in all we are, and so it’s about breaking any ideas we may have of what is needed for us or another, that say we can’t work, or that we need to get away, from what, from ourselves, for the truth is we always take us with us, the question is what is the quality of that us? And why should it change just because our location has changed?
This article breaks down our ideas that resting and taking it easy is what restores us. Instead the writer shows that a purposeless day or one that is not in the correct rhythm for that person makes you tired and irritable. I always feel more vital and alive in life when I have a feeling of purpose.
Bringing purpose to each day, wherever we are is important, ‘I woke and felt to make this holiday not about ‘a getaway to take a break from life’, BUT about taking the full me on this trip. I brought back my natural rhythm in the day and went about living and enjoying me in each moment.’
Vacationwise (but not only), the choice of the place comes second to the purpose of it and the source of joy we connect to.
Your tipping what holidays have always meant on its head Anonymous. I agree holidays in truth are about confirming and appreciating who you are and they are no different to your normal everyday living – “There was nothing to get away from as I was truly enjoying being me.“ Responsibility is not turned off but kept on i.e. to be the full you is to be responsible, and to be responsible was to confirm and appreciate you. To do that you have to be ON all the time. To have appreciation as Anonymous claims your daily rhythm of honouring everything that you bring needs to be actioned and confirmed always. “Once I claimed that the way I go about living my daily rhythm was truly about what felt great for me, things started to shift.”
What i find fascinating about your blog – and I love it – is that same place, same time, same situation, same house, same country and same activities but how two totally different approaches led to you feeling totally different at the end of the day. Could our approach to life be everything?
And then when we’re on holiday we wonder why we don’t truly enjoy it and there’s not the depth and richness to life that we crave – because we may not take all our belongings with us but we certainly pack all our feelings and issues and problems into our suitcase and they come along too. I agree importance should be placed on the other 50 weeks of the year.
This is great because it applies to our time off and days off too, if we switch off we end up feeling much worse and much more tired, plus it’s also really hard to switch back on – we need to discover a way to stay switched on, even when what we do may change or be different.
We can try making our holiday, our every day, our life as exciting as we want and fill them up with activities, but if there’s no purpose, we are never fulfilled.
This is a great blog exposing the many ideals and pictures we have around holidays. There is a way to holiday where we don’t need to escape or indulge in many pleasures, but use the time wisely to consolidate and confirm all the changes and growth we have allowed without dropping our daily rhythm, as you have so beautifully reminded us in this blog.
Instead of ‘getting away from it’ could our holidays be actually about reflecting on how we are living our day to day life by confirming what builds and supports us and letting go of what is not supporting us.
We have rhythms in our lives because they are a way to stay connected to who we are so when we take a holiday from our rhythm we lose connection to ourselves.
We can change our movements for the better or for the worst. In holidays we tend to go for the latter. It is usually vacation time from our movements.
Whenever I go away, regardless of the nature of the trip, I always find it supportive to stick to my own rhythm – one that isn’t based on rules, but only about listening to my body and sticking to that, without perfection. This includes continuing to work on other projects, volunteer commitments and so on, because I enjoy it, and in doing so, there isn’t a huge mountain of undealt with stuff to return to at the end of the trip.
Often when preparing for big trips there’s a huge pressure before and after the trip, preparing by trying to finish every last thing, and then racing to catch up when we’re back.. but what you’ve shown is that if we live in a way where we don’t need to escape from our own lives, then that consistency and connection is always available to us, no matter what we’re doing or where we are.
I love what you say here Bryony, if i don’t stick to my rhythym I find myself feeling very lost very quickly – it’s crucial to my daily well-being and to feeling ok in myself during the day – if I dishonour that it’s like I’m emptying my tank rather than refreshing it.
Our body speaks loudly, we just have to listen to it, and honour what it is lovingly conveying to us, ‘my body gave me the answer loud and clear; spending some time on the projects I am involved in actually wasn’t work at all and I realised from this holiday it actually supported me.’
There is no on and off switch from our bodies is there?! it is with us 24/7 and I can feel how it would jump for joy if we could live in a way that celebrated and honoured that rhythm and cycle. I have travelled a fair bit and have found we can change location and company but essentially it is the same body we are taking so essentially nothing changes on the inside just the outside. If we could feel the tiredness in our bodies then perhaps there is an opportunity to address that in our daily rhythm and not wait till the holidays and crash…
The concept of holidays and how we are with them seems to justify not looking at how we are in our day to day and work life. The holiday is seen as the only relief from the grind of daily life, instead of changing our daily life.
This could explain why we have so much trouble coming back from holidays.The fact that we take ourselves so far out from how we normally are that coming back is almost a shock to the system. It’s not that we always need to drive ourselves and have the pressures put on us but it’s about finding a way to ‘work’ that supports us all round. I don’t mean a have a week off every month or anything like that either it’s about setting up our day to support ourselves in each part of it. That way when you are truly supporting yourself there is no need to leave it behind or not do it for a while or have a break from it because it’s how you live, the quality you live and not what you do.
Our body does give us the answers if we take the time to truly connect and listen, ‘‘Connect to your rhythm and let the day unfold.’
‘Connect to your rhythm and let the day unfold.’ Whether on holiday or not on holiday this is beautiful, year ’round, day-in, day-out advice.
Great to hear that you returned to living your daily rhythm and felt the absoluteness it brings to your body, as opposed to the holiday rhythm which felt dishonouring and draining, and that by returning to your rhythm you felt so much more vital, ‘These simple adjustments during the day made me feel so much lighter as I was returning to my natural rhythm and playful self.’
My holidays used to be about escape. I would be miserable about coming back home and would always suffer from the holiday blues for weeks after my return. They are so different now and keeping my rhythm whilst away feels great. I still get up early when away and will sometimes bring work to do during that time because it actually feels very supportive and is part of my regular routine. I now look forward to returning home because I have created a life I love.
We tend to make holidays about relaxing and rather than resting we fill it up with other distractions that serve no purpose other than to allow us a different way of filling up our time or sleeping because we are too exhausted to even enjoy the break. When we have a natural rhythm that allows us to be connected within, the worst thing we can do is change our rhythm and start sleeping in, at the same time convincing ourselves we are enjoying the late nights too, all we need to do is listen to what our body is telling us, and not take a holiday from our inner connection.
How often do we hear ‘I need a holiday to recover from my holiday’. We have sold to ourselves the idea that a holiday is an excuse for more indulgence, more excitement, stimulation lots of other things yet sometimes we are relieved to get back to work because we know that what we did in the holiday was actually bringing us down. Time to reimprint ‘holidays’ definitely as every day is an opportunity for connection, purpose and greater service.
Great blog, blowing apart many of our ideals around holidays … after all why would we want to take a break from us and our lives? And if we do then how in fact is that addressing our lives, surely it would make more sense to implement changes in our lives which would have more of an impact than any annual break. Yet this is deeply ingrained that we need to get away to recharge to somehow be able to manage life … and in none of this are we truly looking at anything. I find if I go away I love to follow a similar rhythm as at home, it is indeed more energising but as you noted there’s such a thing about working like that – but really why? We can be all we are no matter where we are and do as we feel, after all that’s our freedom to choose!
Awesome – a beautiful realisation. How lovely it is to realise the simple joy there is in just being ourselves, wherever we are, whatever we do. Taking this into our working day is a great thing, so there is no difference in who we are at work, on holiday, at play, with family or anywhere in fact. I used to hate going on holiday and now I know why. It was because I felt I had to try an be someone I was not and this felt awful.
Re-connecting to who we truly are and living that everyday dispels the myth that we need a break or a holiday to rejuvenate for the next round of life. Rather than having our ‘purpose’ split into parts depending on what we are doing or the plans we are making – our purpose is ‘one true purpose’ and that is to live the love we are, holding ourselves in love first and then bringing this into our environment and with others.
A very supportive sharing and learning about being with oneself and the difference this makes i love it “I realised that when I am living the way I feel to live, it doesn’t matter where I am and what I’m doing – it’s about how I’m living in that moment.” How real this is and the appreciation and support that comes from our being fully present and not from escaping all that supports us and what that really means. What an amazing change from the escaping and holidays and life can be.
I am sure that many would feel as you did on holidays away from home, but would not be as aware of what was going on. That you listened to yourself and understood that you didn’t need to escape from yourself but rather connect back to your own rhythms. There is a lot for us to learn from your sharing.
Vacations evoke one ‘universal’ image: this is the time to enjoy yourself and that can only happen if you do something different compared to your ‘normal life’. Vacations, hence, are an utmost ‘me’ time; a time to recharge our energy cells. But if we need a time to do so, says something about how we are living the time when we are not on vacations. We have clarity on the fact that re-charging your batteries need a different rhythm. Why wait until vacations? What if we live in a way that we do not need vacation time to recharge them? What if the need to break away from our daily life is not really necessary after all?
“what was I actually wanting to blend in with?” Late-nights out? Overeating? Sleeping in? Indulging in food several times a day? Great question not just for when we are on holiday, but wherever we are, because the feeling to ‘fit in’ or blend in is so common and also because we don’t want to stand out. But doing what feels right for ourselves and following our own rhythm and being consistent in that is what makes life simple and our bodies smile from the inside.
This is a great reminder of the power of choosing what is true for you rather than aligning to what is expected or seen to be normal. In this way the only thing that changes on holiday is the scenery, for you take whatever supports you deeply with you wherever you go… nourishing you more deeply than any illusionary break from life ever could.
Well said Samantha – and so it is about not being a sheep – but rather staying true to oneself and reflecting this to others in the process.
It is interesting that all too often we going on a holiday to get away from our usual life with the irony being the consistent rhythm of our usual life is actually our strength.
‘Connect to your rhythm and let your day unfold’ when we live this way, there’s no prescription, whether it be a holiday or a weekend it’s all about bringing us into it and finding the rhythm which works for us, not the one based on a picture of what we think we should do. I love how you set up your holiday to work for you and it become about you going about your day in a new place and not the idea of holiday dictating how it should be – this is a great illusion to break.
There is an image about vacations that is very powerful: you are to break totally with what you do during the year. If you do otherwise, you are not on holidays. Of course, if your rhythm throughout the year hurts the body, you will need a time to stop doing what hurts you. Yet, if your rhythm goes well with your body, all you need to do is to keep it. No need to kill it in the name of ‘holiday is my precious time’. All the time should be seen as equally precious.
“Once I claimed that the way I go about living my daily rhythm was truly about what felt great for me, things started to shift.” Keeping to our rhythm, regardless of where we are, is so important. We take ourselves with us wherever we go – there is no getting away from me!
‘My holiday rhythm is actually the same as my day to day rhythm because there is nothing to take a break from or to get away from except me.’ This has got to be the key! It’s interesting how we don’t really ever truly enjoy holidays, because we throw away our rhythm and daily routine, rather than adapting it to a new environment and not taking one big check out from life. After all – when you know how lovely you are – why would you choose to check out from that?
I haven’t had a ‘holiday’ for a long time now, but I can feel how I am needing ‘out’ moments in my daily life quite often, and how I am choosing to check out rather than taking moments to stop and gather myself. A huge difference. Thank you for the inspiration.
Nothing wrong with a holiday of course, but eventually you get to the point where you realise that there is no difference between home, work, holiday etc. and why should there be? After all, it is you that you are bringing everywhere you go. Of course, this is not the reality. For most of our lives, we are like a leaf in the wind, our sense of direction and being affected by everything from the wind to the rain to the caterpillar that is threatening to eat us out of existence. Until you realise of course that there is an inner pulse to life that truly is ours to connect to – that we are more than just physicality, and that within there is a beingness that remains untouched by the world around us. Once you connect to that, physical life does not touch you in the same way. Does that mean you disconnect from life? Don’t be silly. In many ways your commitment to and appreciation of physical life increases tenfold. But you are no longer affected to the same extent by the ongoing drama of life around you. You are, as they say, the stillness in the centre of the storm.
Totally, when you get that the craziness of the storm is just that, the craziness of the storm, you realise you can stand in the stillness and observe that storm without getting swept up in it.
Were ever we go there we are, there is no escaping ourselves and the turmoil we might think we are escaping whether that be a situation or a person none of it truly is out there to escape by moving geographically because no matter what the situation the root cause is buried with our hurts the hurts we take with us wherever we go until we take responsibility and choose to let them go and having done that the drive to escape dissipates.
Thank you Anonymous. You show the importance of taking you and your rhythm with you wherever you go as to go anywhere without ‘you’ leaves you incomplete.
A great sharing Anonymous,
I am about to head off for a short trip and reading your blog is a great support. How simple to remember to hold my rhythm whilst with others. This is so the support we all need to be ourselves and to enjoy our lives, and we are soul-ly the ones responsible for this choice.
Well summed up Doug!
Great insights/exposure into the intentions behind our holiday plans – which is normally to take a break from life and then we get caught up in the rhythm and activities of the ‘ yearly holiday’ instead of following our own established daily rhythm and honoring what feels right for ourselves…… Essentially a great reminder that no matter where we find ourselves, staying in our own rhythm is what supports us the most.
This is a great read for me at the moment as I was thinking yesterday that I need a break – but a break from what?? I am now looking at my daily rhythm and I know i need to make some adjustments as it is not supporting me as well as it could right now. Such a timely reminder!
I agree Anonymous with all you share, I too used to yearn for a yearly holiday to escape and take break from my life. But everything I was unhappy about followed me on my holiday so it just intensified the emptiness I felt. Learning to live in a true way and have a daily rhythm that supports me and nourishes me has been better than any holiday I had in the past – thanks to the Universal Medicine presentations that allow us to truly heal.
Thank you Anonymous, what you explained is very true. A holiday can be a break from the momentum and structure of our lives. Whether it is supportive or not.
Spot on Concetta – it (the holiday) is what we make it.
When we choose to live in a daily rhythm that supports us why would we change it just because we happen to be ‘on holiday’? It is a long time since I have taken an annual holiday but even when I am away for the weekend I find it supportive to stick to my natural rhythm as much as possible whilst also enjoying connecting with different people and places. For me what changed was when I chose to live each moment being as present as possible so that I had far less need to escape anywhere (for me this would usually be into my mind rather than a physical location) as I explored my relationship with myself and my daily life.
You raise a fascinating issue in this blog – just how easy it is to decide to put aside a daily rhythm that normally supports us in maintaining our vitality when we’re on a holiday from our regular routine. I guess we can never truly get a break from ourselves but then why would we want to when we’re living in a way that’s about making choices that maximise our energy levels and minimise disregard for what the body truly needs?
Do we use our holidays to get away from ourselves and escape from the responsibilities of our lives or, to continue to build and strengthen our connection and understanding of ourselves and others? Great questions, great blog.
I feel like the next holiday I go on will be like no other I have had before. Because this time I will bring all of me.
‘I realised from my experience on my recent holiday that I was living the rhythm of the ‘yearly holiday’ and not the rhythm that supported me.’ I find this interesting because I feel that we do this in other areas of our lives also. How often do we feel driven with the planned event rather than honour our own rhythm?
What I find interesting about the process of having a holiday is that for many it is an excuse to give up on truly supporting ourselves in life and committing in full to our day. We can sleep in, over eat, not exercise and do anything we like because ‘we are on holiday’. But what this feels like is a complete giving up on ourselves and this is something I have come to understand is not a true holiday at all.
It is a bit weird that I have used holidays in the past to get away from my normal life which shows me that there was something about my normal life that was not supporting and loving and that I was not being truly me. I now go on holiday with me and my daily rhythms and actually find that I do not need to go on holiday to recuperate from life as i used to!
Its taken me ages to figure out holidays… veering from pure escapism from which I always struggle to return (because I was not enjoying my life), to mad cap adventures which would leave me feeling just as exhausted! More recently I’ve been getting better at resting. I love my life and want to be refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready when I return. The holiday provides a welcome break, a bit more space and time to connect and reflect but like you I notice how they are getting shorter as my need to escape is not there any more.
Lovely sharing Anonymous, showing how living our rhythm supports us everywhere and in every time.
Just happen to be away on holiday whilst reading this and I agree that it’s entirely possible to maintain your regular rhythm when you’re away – this may well include continuing project work – and yet still enjoy all that is on offer. It comes down to how much we place the desire to fit in with prevailing ‘on holiday’ protocols and peer pressure as more important than the commitment we make to our own unique rythmn,something that we know optimises us and the experience our day.
Hi Anonymous, your blog dispels many beliefs around the ‘Annual’ holiday or “holidays’ in general. When tiredness or exhaustion is felt the first thought is to take a break from work, to get some ‘me’ time. This often involves a completely different rhythm to our regular one and includes all the rings you have mentioned. Recently I have been feeling that the old way of seeing and taking holidays no longer fits for me and you have articulated beautifully how we sabotage ourselves by living the beliefs of generations gone before us. Time to re-imprint the true meaning of ‘Annual’ holidays by bringing the love of who we are, free from the distractions that consume us at other times.
For me, holidays are not something I am craving for. If I end up in a sunny place in the middle of winter, it can be really enjoyable only if I am able to take my home rhythm with me on holiday. ✈️
Very inspiring Anonymous. It is so true – why should we change our natural rhythm, just because we are holiday. This doesn’t make sense at all. I loved to read how you took care of yourself. Often the “stop” is so important, just to feel, what is really going on here and after the stop to make different choices as you did.
I remembered this blog, later this year I am going away on holiday for the first time in many years and I can already feel me think of this as a ‘holiday’ in old sense I used to see it. What you have reminded me here is beautiful in that it is not a holiday away from my connection with my self but for me to stay re-connected to myself and loving choices. Thank you.
Great comment Vicky – its an opportunity to connect even deeper.
I can relate to the sluggishness and never feeling vital when I was on holiday with my family. We stopped going on holidays for a couple of years because it didn’t feel needed anymore. Just as you say ‘I realised that when I am living the way I feel to live, it doesn’t matter where I am and what I’m doing – it’s about how I’m living in that moment.’ Last year we went for a holiday but made this holiday about deepening the connection in our family. We stayed in our rhythm, worked on our projects and loved the extra time we had to connect with each other and the place we were and we enjoyed ourselves more than I can recall from any other holiday.
Hey Anonymous, I have to say your holiday description in the ‘before-all-of-you days’ sounded like a nightmare to me. Even on holidays I just can’t overeat, sleep in, stay up late, get driven around, indulge, etc, but I know that this is the ‘normal’. I haven’t actually ‘gone on holidays’ for eleven years! But if I ever do again, I will certainly embrace what you have shared about maintaining my natural rhythm, and including ‘working’ on projects I’ve committed to, because there is so much joy in them when in rhythm that they don’t feel like ‘work’ at all. Keep on en-joying (‘to put joy into’) your holidays!
So many great points here how the popular choices (like the holiday diet) we make while holidays explain that saying – needing a holiday after the holiday. Although I have to say I always thought that saying was for the over enthusiastic tourist that rushes from sight to sight or city to city, or trekking at high altitudes in harsh weather so it was great how this blog challenged a few more of my holiday fantasies. So while my holiday fantasies are getting a shake-up it is also a good time to take a peep at how the same ‘break’ attitude can be there in my everyday life – like the relief of watching a movie or hanging out with family and friends but checking out.
Such a great blog Anonymous, what you share here about holidays is so true and would challenge the beliefs and ideals most people have around what a holiday is for them. I work in the travel industry and what I find most interesting is how many people travel to escape, and then they discover you can never really escape and everything you are and have lived to that point is with you always. Your version of a holiday is a refreshing way to travel, not to escape but to truly connect and enjoy being ‘you’.
The holiday game is to distract and escape from work and life, it also is a huge business. Since I am claiming my life in full I don’t have any desire to go on a vacation, maybe I will go for a holiday again, but not to escape from anything. I go to work with joy and love the connection with people.
Yes, take away the indulgences with food and not eating late and the day starts to look very different! It is not all about checking out. Every day is in fact the same: weekdays, weekends, holidays, just the actual activities will differ.
I like that you don’t dismiss the idea of a holiday altogether because I feel that having dedicated time with my family is a necessary ‘coming home’. But the purpose is very different, with a focus on connection.
Anonymous thank you for a great blog. I have just come back from a month holiday and I know the value of keeping to our daily routine whenever possible. The need to blend in does not have the same hold on me as it did in the past. Living my own rhythm allows me to maintain my vitality whether on holiday or in my daily life.
A great sharing, no matter what we do, what is going on, it is remembering to bring,
‘the full me to every day and moment of my trip… and therefore to fully enjoy being me…’.
Thats it: ‘Connect to your rhythm and let the day unfold.’