Why Do You Take Vacations?

This week’s journal entry:

Give a list of reasons why you take a vacation.

By Laura Black

            America – the country where vacation time is limited. It’s not like Europe where you can get a month off at a time – holiday. Imagine having an entire month off where you don’t have to worry about working at all. Ahhh!!! That would be wonderful. I think I need to move.

            I don’t know about you, but I look forward to vacation. Every year my husband plans out a vacation for him and me, and I honestly don’t know what I would do without this vacation time with him. We both bust our asses throughout the year, so for us, a yearly vacation is mandatory.

            For my husband, he works two jobs – one full-time and one part-time. He works seven days a week. His only time off is when there’s a holiday, or he actually uses vacation days, which he rarely does. He’s also the main cook at our house. I absolutely hate cooking, so he does most of it. And, lately, he’s been making time to take his son out driving as well. In his spare time, he’s always planning out our next vacation trip, which has led to his latest endeavor No Compass.

            For me, I’m always busy with work or home life. There’s honestly a blurred line between where I actually do more work – at home or at work. It’s often hard for me to separate the two because most of my work (career-wise) is also done at home. I’m an adjunct English instructor at two different community colleges. Adjunct means I’m a part-time employee. Because I’m a part-time employee, I do not have an office to do my work outside of the classroom; therefore, I do most of my work at home.

I work at two different colleges in order to have a salary of a low-paid full-time instructor; however, I’m technically doing the work of a full-time instructor with a part-time job on the side. The ridiculousness of full-time versus part-time is a whole other subject entirely. With that in mind, you can imagine between working a full-time and part-time job as well as running a household – cleaning, laundry, dishes, bills, cutting grass, taking care of a dog, helping out with step-children when needed, and occasionally cooking – I am in dire need of a vacation. Oh yeah, I’m also working on getting certified to be a yoga instructor, so I’ve been taking classes myself.

For my husband and me, it’s constantly go, go, go. That’s why we both agree that at least one vacation per year is what we strive for. In fact, everyone should take a vacation at least once a year. Who isn’t in need of recharging their battery? I know I am. Actually, if I don’t have a vacation, I feel like I will lose my shit, and no one wants that to happen. Well, even when I do get a vacation, I still have times where I feel like I’m going to lose my shit, but somehow I’m able to decompress in other ways (journaling is one of them). But, back to why vacations are needed.

I asked my husband to share his list of reasons why he needs a vacation to compare to mine. Some of ours are a bit similar, yet I guess worded a bit differently. Take a look!

Joe’s list (in no special order):

·         Reward for working

·         Love for tropical beaches

·         Seeing/doing something new

·         Learn about different people/cultures because it makes you more open-minded and less hypocritical

·         Meeting new people

·         Because I can – the world is huge and there to see

·         Photography

One of Joe's many pictures taken on our last vacation.

·         Food – one of the best reasons to travel to a place

Joe enjoying pizza at Chances in Negril, Jamaica.

·         History, especially US – old and ancient shit is cool to me

·         Romance – chivalry is not dead
·         And fifteen other things I can’t think of right now

My list (also in no special order):

·         Recharge my battery – I need to not worry about regular life issues for a while.

·         Relax – I am not good at relaxing on a daily basis, so the best way for me to do this is going on vacation where I don’t have to worry about day to day stuff.

·         Enjoy life – I get so wrapped up in the day to day life, and I forget to enjoy life. This allows me to take a step back and enjoy life again.

·         Take in different scenery and setting – beaches. Need I say more? Who doesn’t love the beach and having your feet immersed in the sand? It beats cold weather any day.

How can you not enjoy the scenery? I can't see this at home.

·         Explore – I like to discover new things and try new things. Whether it’s food and drinks or snorkeling for the first time, I like to see what else is out there.

·         Spend alone time with my husband – We’re both so busy with working that we rarely have alone time. Our schedules are often crossing as well. It’s normal for him to get home from work while I’m getting ready for bed. So, for me, this is probably one of the top reasons I look forward to vacation. I get to spend it with the man I love. Plus, he always plans amazing trips for us. How could I not want to spend it with him?

See, we're having fun on the beach in Negril, Jamaica.

So, that’s our lists of reasons why we need a vacation each year. What about you? What are yours?