Fun in the Sun
"In Florida with 13 incredible women for a Jewish rejuvenation trip and I can’t describe how restorative it is to travel with growth-oriented girlfriends for three days of learning, eating, and laughing our heads off. People, self-care is not optional. Some of us have very tight budgets. Some are single moms. Some have special needs kids. But we all made this a priority. You must nourish yourself spiritually and physically in this universe. Thank you Hashem for these women and this opportunity. Thank you for sun and sand. Thank you for friends and Torah. Thank you for delicious food and beautiful souls. Modeh ani. I am grateful."
Thus read my Facebook post from this past Tuesday.
I'm not gonna lie - coming home from vacation is always hard. Although my husband always promises to give me a "soft landing" - and he is good for his word - somehow it always feels like a turbulent crash-landing instead. Real life, with its stresses and tasks, crashes back around you. With interest.
So what, then, is the point of vacation? Just to escape it all for a few days, only to come back to more work? All that time and money and arranging, for a fleeting purpose? I've given a lot of thought to this subject and I think there are two long-term purposes to vacation.
First, we all need to nurture ourselves. Self-care doesn't have to mean three days in Miami (with the best kosher food and most incredible women, okay sorry I'm digressing). It can mean an afternoon at a cafe with your spouse or a friend. It can mean taking a nap when you need it. It can mean saying no to a social obligation because you simply need some solitude. Self-care doesn't have to involve a lot of money or even a lot of time. When you teach yourself that you are worthy and deserving of self-care, there is a long-term benefit. You lift yourself up and remind yourself (by all your arranging) how much you do and accomplish and how needed you are. By taking this thought home with you from vacation, you will be that much more likely to care for yourself in the way that you need in your regular daily life.
The second piece that I believe is important is the perspective we can achieve on our lives when we have a little distance and space. Every time I go away I have the opportunity to reflect on what's going on in my life. I am more primed to see trends and patterns clearly when I am away from them. I can perceive and clearly remember what my gifts and blessings are, and where my gratitude should be. I can become aware of negative habits that I am enmeshed in and that I should stop. And I can become more conscious of external negativity in my life that I need to put a stop to or distance myself from.
By using vacation to reinforce how much we need to be nurtured, and to achieve clarity and perspective on our lives that will lead to action and decisions and better choices, vacation will become something to grow from whose positive benefits will outlast the credit card charges and the laundry.
Shabbat Shalom,
Ruchi
