It’s that time of year again for Americans to indulge in our one-week trip – whether to the beach, exploring the West, or visiting a favorite theme park. We work hard all year for a one-week break. We might take a day or two extra off for holidays or special events but the much-needed vacation is abjectly too short. Our time off from work is a welcome relief but not enough.
According to an Expedia report, more than half (53 percent) of Americans said they do not plan on using all their time off this year which is the fewest of any country surveyed (https://www.prnewswire.com/). These findings suggest a mentality of work “at all costs”. Work first, personal life second. However, the European way of life flips this American idea on its head. Europe’s slower pace of life in general gives societal permission to their workers to tend to the mind and soul by taking vacation time that accommodates rest and reflection. The many cafes, plazas, parks, and outdoor restaurants are a nod to the lifestyle that beckons the Europeans to take a respectable amount of time off from work. During the summertime, three weeks is the standard for sun-loving Europeans.
So, how do we Americans get the rest and restoration we need without the European six-week paid time off from our work? While we might not be able to spend a month at the beach, it is a worthy goal to carve out more time, ideally three weeks, for our vacations.
Let’s consider the value of a long three-week vacation. For us to truly experience rest AND restoration in our sojourns, three weeks are not only needed but essential. There is Jewish wisdom embodied in Europe’s long periods away from work. These three weeks are necessary for three stages to be passed through.
Week 1 – Time of Reflection and Letting Go of the Past
Week 2 – Rest and Leisure for Now
Week 3 – Planning for the Future
The first week is set aside for letting go of the past. Specifically, it takes a week to clear out the work din in our thoughts. Essentially, we need a week to just unwind. A week to let go of all that we mentally entertain while we are in our workplaces. This letting go might take the form of catching up on lost sleep and physical activity – and certainly NOT reading or answering any work correspondence. We let go and allow our senses to be filled with all things family and friends as well as alone time. It is relinquishing what has occupied our attention before – our workload responsibilities and our to-do lists. We are ready for refreshment and attention to all things present in time.
The second week is the present moment where we fully participate in and are present to the people and activities of the moment. Extended family excursions, time for longer talks that go below the surface of the daily pratter, and true pleasure in leisure activities. A kayaking excursion into a back bay area, a walk to see a rookery filled with birds that we don’t see at our backyard feeders. Seafood bought straight from a local dock market and cooked on a grill. A mountain hike to a cascading waterfall. Mountain views from sunset balconies. Flashlight walks on the beach at night. This is the period where we drink in the world and people around us. As if we had taken a faraway trip to a land that enticed us to come. To come and flow to the rhythms of life that get swallowed up in our everyday lives. Here we find paradise, reminding us that for this short while, we are not east of Eden, but IN Eden.
The third week is related to the future and is about acquiring a new vision. Vision that allows our hearts and minds to stretch beyond where we are in the present. To have courage for what is to come and to intentionally craft our futures. As we envision what is ahead of us, this process allows us, with hope and courage, to reach out and create the new in our lives.
This vision part of vacation calls us from the present to the future. As we get clarity on what lies ahead, we enter a new phase of anticipation for what is to come. We are not left adrift returning to the status quo of our previous lives but are now equipped to move forward to new and meaningful changes and additions to our lives.
Our vacations should be a “coming away” from the former. In our busyness, much of life can seem the same, until we arrive at some big milestone that alerts us to the realization that we have been trudging through life without being deliberate in noticing where we are inour life journey, not to mention determining if we have been successful in our actual life’s purpose. Having a vision for our future allows us to become reinvigorated and to work with purpose, not just labor until retirement time. It’s in the envisioning time of the third week that we refocus. We become fortified to return to our regular lives with a better bead on living fully and not just waiting for another vacation scripted for a week. Without a vision for life after our vacation, we are easily lost in a predictive muddle of life.
But we don’t have to be stuck. We can let go, be present, and be hopeful for all that’s to come. This three-week exercise is one that should be welcomed into our lives every year. A part of our American vacation. So, let’s look at vacation differently – as the Europeans and Jewish wisdom invite us into. Let’s let go of the false glamour and the self-importance of busyness and let the wisdom of these cultures of old instruct us in how to do life with purpose and delight.
Bon voyage, wherever the roads and oceans and winds lead you this summer. May it be that this summer’s vacation changes your life, not in the “bucket lists” of desired travel destinations, but on the journey that reshapes the mind and soul. The beauty of Earth will call us to its natural rhythms of our Creator of our souls – so that we might see eternal meaningfulness in our lives. That’s the purpose of a true vacation.
May your heart be rested, refreshed, and renewed during your travels this summer. And if your three weeks’ vacation doesn’t happen this year – consider it a requisite for next summer!
Dawn Custalow is a believer in the European three-week summer vacation. She is off with her family to Germany, Czech Republic, and Austria and then to sunny beach waters back on the East Coast of the US. She looks forward to returning with a new vision for another year ahead at her place of work – William Fleming High School in Roanoke, VA.