5 Signs Your Family Needs a Vacation

5 Signs Your Family Needs a Vacation

Struggling at work or feeling stressed? These are signs that you need a vacation. In fact, make it a family vacation for some bonding time with the kids!

family vacation

Whether you spend the days lounging on warm sunny beaches, sipping cool cocktails or you’re immersed in the sights and sounds of a foreign culture, vacations pretty much always have their allure.

But even when you know they can be fun, relaxing and enriching, you may not take time away quite as often as you should. Vacations can be good for the body, mind and soul, and you’d do well not to skip out.

If you’re finding yourself so immersed in the day-to-day grind of work, school and family obligations, here are some reminders of why you and your family really need to bring back the good old fashioned family vacation.

Also read: 3 Ways Travelling Will Benefit Your Child

1. You’re struggling at work or school

When you’re lacking creativity at work or barely fulfilling your obligations, your first instinct may be to simply work harder to try to fit in all the things you need to do in a single day. But guess what? Pushing too hard is not what your brain needs. Instead, it needs to be free of stress, worry and a mountain of tasks for a while.

Giving your brain a rest from thinking about external tasks gives it a chance to focus inward, which can lead to those creative bursts or “aha” moments. This works in the short-term as well as the long term. Even a single day or a few hours away from the office can restore some measure of creativity — so imagine what could happen if you extended that break for a week or more.

2. You’re getting stressed over the little things

Are the kids arguing more than normal? Are you and your spouse quibbling over little details that used to be no big deal? If the tension in your house is getting out of hand, it may be time to put things in perspective, and to get away for a while. Getting you and the family out of your regular routine can help you all learn to enjoy one another once again. Sure, traveling does have its moments of occasional stress, but it’s usually sandwiched by lots of fun and freedom.

3. You’ve been sick a lot

If you and your family members have been plagued by constant colds, flus or bouts of allergies, it could be your brains telling your bodies to take a rest.

A study published by Oxford Economics in 2014 found that taking time off leads to more productive, satisfied and healthy employees. If you’re healthier at work on account of taking time off, you’re also going to be healthier at home too, right?

There are larger health implications as well. The Framingham Heart Study conducted by Boston University found that women who took less-frequent vacations — only one every six years, if you can believe it — were almost eight times more likely to develop heart disease. So the next time your spouse balks at taking that family vacation, remind him or her that it’s good for your health!

4. The weatherman says a storm is coming, again

When the weather is cold, dark, gloomy, or just plain unbearable, it’s definitely a sign that you need to get away. When you live in a cold or temperate climate, the winter clouds often mean you’re not getting enough Vitamin D, which can lead to seasonal depression and other health issues. You can get Vitamin D through certain foods, but one of the best sources is the sun.

People who live in warm, sunny climates also deserve a chance to escape the wet season, or to spend some time wearing something besides short sleeves. Change is good.

5. You could use a dose of gratitude around the house again

When you leave home and embark upon a journey to another culture or another place, you’ll experience new foods and flavors, hear new sounds, see new sights, and yes, even experience a few things that you might not like about the host culture. While you might not enjoy every single facet of that host culture, it will leave you with a sense of perspective. You might even feel a dose of homesickness from time to time, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Giving the kids the chance to compare life in one place versus their own lives back home can help them learn to appreciate what they have, and to be happy to dive back into all the routine that seemed so difficult just a short time prior. In the best-case scenario, traveling far and wide will help them develop a healthy sense of gratitude.

Whether you’re aiming to take an epic vacation that lasts several months, or you’re just hoping for a week-long getaway, hopefully these tips will help to remind you why you should start planning right away.

Also read: How to Plan a Successful Family Road Trip

About Author

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Nicole Vulcan

Nicole Vulcan is a journalist and multimedia producer who’s written for publications including The Oregonian, USA Today’s Travel Tips, Pink Pangea and China Daily. As a child of a military man, she’s no stranger to frequent travel and life spent straddling two worlds. She writes about travel, gardening, fitness and careers from her two homes in Granada, Nicaragua and Portland, Oregon, USA. Read more about her adventures at her travel and parenting blog, Raising a Revolutionary.

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