As last year was very work-heavy, we are trying to fit more breaks into 2024. Not just daily or weekly breaks, but actual vacations. Today’s German word Urlaub comes from the Old High German urloub: „permission to go away“. The English vacation comes from Latin vacationem (nominative vacatio) „leisure, freedom, exemption, a being free from duty“. In the UK you prefer to use the word holidays for the same thing, however I want to talk about free time that does not involve any special celebrations or religious contexts. In any case, a vacation is not just a getaway, an escape from everyday life, but it is also about new impressions. New impressions are at least as important for our inner relaxation as the absence of routines and everyday worries.
It is often more difficult to brake from full speed than to change direction first.
You may be familiar with this: working towards a deadline, doing little else and, as they say, „not being in the right headspace“ for anything else – only to realise that it is impossible to slow down after reaching the goal. Most of us cannot switch from stress to relaxation as quickly as we would like to. Bagging the project today and relaxing by the pool tomorrow? Difficult. Some getaways may be doomed to fail…
May be easier to throw yourself into something else first, a hobby for example…
But sometimes you just want a quick escape. That is why our short winter break was not as relaxing as we had hoped, especially for my husband. So, it is all the more important that we are now treating ourselves to another trip, this time to somewhere new and unknown. I am already looking forward to new impressions, a different language, different smells, and sounds. That will certainly blow away the cobwebs. Then our goal for our May getaway would be achieved: gaining not only external, but also internal distance from work and the daily grind.
By now, we have probably calmed down enough to be able to RELAX.
At least that is what I hope. And above all, I hope that nothing else comes up at work that my husband will not want to let go of in his mind. Experience has shown that it is then of little use to try keeping your distance or switch off your mobile phone. (In that case, it could make more sense to postpone or shorten the getaway. The physical escape always seems to be easier than the internal one.) But not this time, please…
Hopefully, this time both the physical and inner distance will be exactly right!
I wish you such successful getaways, too!
Heartfelt, wherever you may be,
As last year was very work-heavy, we are trying to fit more breaks into 2024. Not just daily or weekly breaks, but actual vacations. Today’s German word Urlaub comes from the Old High German urloub: „permission to go away“. The English vacation comes from Latin vacationem (nominative vacatio) „leisure, freedom, exemption, a being free from duty“. In the UK you prefer to use the word holidays for the same thing, however I want to talk about free time that does not involve any special celebrations or religious contexts. In any case, a vacation is not just a getaway, an escape from everyday life, but it is also about new impressions. New impressions are at least as important for our inner relaxation as the absence of routines and everyday worries.
It is often more difficult to brake from full speed than to change direction first.
You may be familiar with this: working towards a deadline, doing little else and, as they say, „not being in the right headspace“ for anything else – only to realise that it is impossible to slow down after reaching the goal. Most of us cannot switch from stress to relaxation as quickly as we would like to. Bagging the project today and relaxing by the pool tomorrow? Difficult. Some getaways may be doomed to fail…
May be easier to throw yourself into something else first, a hobby for example…
But sometimes you just want a quick escape. That is why our short winter break was not as relaxing as we had hoped, especially for my husband. So, it is all the more important that we are now treating ourselves to another trip, this time to somewhere new and unknown. I am already looking forward to new impressions, a different language, different smells, and sounds. That will certainly blow away the cobwebs. Then our goal for our May getaway would be achieved: gaining not only external, but also internal distance from work and the daily grind.
By now, we have probably calmed down enough to be able to RELAX.
At least that is what I hope. And above all, I hope that nothing else comes up at work that my husband will not want to let go of in his mind. Experience has shown that it is then of little use to try keeping your distance or switch off your mobile phone. (In that case, it could make more sense to postpone or shorten the getaway. The physical escape always seems to be easier than the internal one.) But not this time, please…
Hopefully, this time both the physical and inner distance will be exactly right!
I wish you such successful getaways, too!
Heartfelt, wherever you may be,