The cold winter air felt fresh and pure. And while the mineral water was keeping me warm, tiny ice crystals were growing on my hair and eyelashes. The sun was so bright that I had to keep my eyes closed.
My face was warm from the inside, but I could feel the frost mixed with light sun touches on the surface of my skin. Humid air filled with steam was almost as dense as water, which was holding me up and pushing out. I felt as if I was floating in the air, weightless, calm and relaxed.
It was the second day of our short escape, but it felt that we were away for at least a week. This time we decided to use our weekends smart and instead of doing housework, shopping or finishing never-ending routine duties we went to Moose Jaw. And all of a sudden two days turned into a full-scale high-quality vacation.
American writer and artist Henry Miller once said, “One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” I guess that’s what makes travels feel so special. A simple and at the same time hard decision – to leave home when you have a very limited time – takes you out of the comfort zone, yet it allows you to discover a different life. You meet new people and see new places, you get to know something you didn’t know before. And right there your brain quits doing things automatically and switches to exploration mode. New food, new interiors, new landscapes, new emotions, new feelings, new experiences. After a weekend like that you come home fulfilled and inspired.
Especially if you feel that life becomes overwhelming, each day turns into a Groundhog Day, and after weekends you feel as tired as before, it’s the time to get away from it all. Psychologists state that by changing environment we decrease the number of mistakes and misfortunes. Long-lasting routine makes us more tired than anything, which leads to irritation and inattentiveness towards loved ones.
And even a short getaway is one of the best medicines allowing you to restart. It positively affects your mood, refreshes, shakes you up and changes your life flow. When exploring something new, your brain is forced to create new images, connections, associations, categories and so on. That increases its efficiency. Now, when you ask it to process old problems and tasks, your brain will have enough virtual fuel to offer new ideas and decisions. In other words, while having quality time off, you fill up and make your imagination work.
Travel options are usually limited by our own imaginary "I can't," "I must" and "I don't want to" frames. We can choose to go to the lake or visit friends in the cabin, go camping or fishing, visit a different town, city or even a new country, take a bike or pedal down the river, hike, run or even horseback ride, just to name a few. Nowadays, there are hotels and Airbnb options available in almost any place in the world. And if it’s summertime you always can get a bit closer to Mother Nature and spend a night in a tent.
Two years ago my best friend had a baby. By the time the boy was 22 months old he has visited 22 countries and a countless number of cities, museums, parks and attractions. No, they are not rich and they have to work a lot. They built their life that way so they can do most of their work long-distance, but mainly it’s their open-mindedness that allows them to travel the world. They take all the opportunities they see and go for it. And even when they are completely overloaded with work they prefer to step out of the house and go for at least a short walk in the park.
Just think, why prisons are counted as one of the worst punishments. Correctional institutions limit their inhabitants to the monotony of the surrounding reality and take away their ability to change the situation. So while we are not prisoners, why so often do we deprive ourselves of changes by following the same routine even during our days off?
Every so often, when we are physically tired, we forget how refreshing shake-ups are and how great they feel. So since we are free to leave our prisons we can actually afford to fill our lives as much as we want.
No matter what the budget is and how much time you have, try breaking the home-work-home pattern as often as you can. If you think of it, you have about 130 free days a year to step out of this circle. Three-four weeks of vacation, 52 weekends and about 10 stat holidays. The world is your oyster, and when you take opportunities life pays back.
