🧩 ***We crave rest, but somehow vacation becomes a to-do list in disguise.***
😌 The Hope of Rest
So it is the first day of your vacation, and you are feeling a little excited.
After a year of work, it is absolutely necessary that you get some downtime from the rush, from the hustle, from the bosses breathing down your neck.
Then you look in the mirror, and the reality strikes:
What exactly are we going to do on this “well-deserved” break?
💸 When Your Wallet Says “Nope”
You would love to take a flight, vacation somewhere you can shop, eat, enjoy the nightlife, and go on a few tours.
But when you log in to your bank account, a couple lonely zeros stare back at you.
Great. So your finances are not cooperating.
🏡 The Staycation Spiral
Plan B: stay home and make the best of it.
You want to get up early to enjoy the sunrise.
But honestly? You would rather sleep late, something you are never afforded during the work year.
How about binge-watching NCIS?
Wait, what about those three books collecting digital dust on your Kindle?
Hmm.
Okay then, maybe catch up on some housework?
But hold on, did you really take a vacation just to replace one kind of work with another?
🤯 Enter: The Vortex
This is not quite working out.
New idea: maybe take up a part-time job to help your bank account.
Seriously? You know the minute you do, your car will break down and need a new part.
Let us leave that alone.
An afternoon stroll?
Nope. The sun is doing the absolute most.
Meet up with friends?
They are all at work because you are the only one “on break.”
So what now?
You stare at the ceiling and try again.
Then it happens.
Your sister finds out that you are on vacation and suddenly needs you to watch the kids.
Your mother realizes you are available and is filled with urgent ideas:
“Come with me to town.”
“Fix that thing by the sink.”
“Let us talk about your life.”
To them, you look a little too idle.
Clearly, you must need something to occupy your time.
And just like that, the Vacation Vortex begins.
🔄 The Endless Loop of “Should”
Those projects you shelved now whisper your name.
The courses you did not finish are still there.
The inner rest you desperately need remains elusive.
And suddenly you wonder…
Is vacation just a farce?
Some form of trickery into thinking you have time,
when what you really have is just an unpaid internship at home?
Maybe the best you can hope for is to lie in bed for three weeks straight.
One would hope…
🌱 But Maybe…
But maybe it is not about the perfect vacation at all.
Maybe it is about learning to pace yourself in a world that demands you constantly perform.
Maybe it is about choosing yourself daily, not just when the calendar says “you are off.”
Maybe it is about creating a little vacation in each day:
a walk, a laugh, a cup of tea, a boundary you hold.
🔚 Final Thought
Work was made to help us build a sustainable life,
but your entire life was never made for work alone.
Let rest become the rhythm.
Let your rewards be found in each day.