8 keys to fully enjoy your holidays

The word "vacation" usually makes us think of pleasant experiences and moments of rest, but the truth is that, in practice, not everyone knows how to take advantage of their period vacation. What's more, there are even those who are stressed by the idea of ​​not enjoying their vacations enough.

In this article we will review several Helpful key ideas to enjoy the holidays at your own pace and on your own terms.

• Related article: "10 daily habits that improve your emotional balance"

8 key ideas to fully enjoy your vacation days

These are some guidelines that can help you squeeze the full potential of your vacation and take advantage of its psychological benefits.

1. Plan by focusing on your social life

Holidays not only allow us to enjoy a greater margin of maneuver when it comes to being with our own thoughts and having more time for ourselves; also helps us to strengthen emotional ties with both family and friends.

Do not miss out on this potential and try to make some common plans keeping in mind that these events must fit in with the availability of the largest number of people important to you.

• You may be interested in: "Family therapy: types and forms of application"

2. Maintain a certain time control

Even if you are on vacation, that does not mean that your day to day should be totally unstructured and should always obey improvisation. In fact, it is recommended that you have planned in advance at least the "structural" moments of the day dedicated to meeting basic needs: meals and hours of sleep.

In addition, these time frames should be more or less the same throughout all the days of the week, without too many variations, so that you can eat well and have no problems fall asleep.

3. Explore new places

Regardless of our age and the phase of life we ​​are going through, one of the most psychologically beneficial aspects of vacations is its ability to make us disconnect from what usually makes us think about elements that generate stress: the work office, exams, homework, etc. However, if during these days of free time we hardly expose ourselves to new places and do not leave the house, this feeling will be partial and incomplete, because we will continue to be surrounded by elements that can indirectly remind us of our obligations and responsibilities in the medium and long term term.

That is why it is good to make trips to new places that help us disconnect. It does not have to be travel to other countries; it may be enough with something as simple as visiting places that we know little about our region or province. The important thing is to "oxygenate" our day to day with new stimuli, elements with which we had not entered into contact before and that for that very reason they will not make us fall into the intrusive thought loops that sometimes assault.

• You may be interested in: "The 11 psychological benefits of traveling"

4. Control your use of social networks

If you leave the "automatic pilot" of your mind in charge of what you will dedicate your time to, you may end up investing a part enormous amount of your day to day to "scroll" through social networks, without focusing on anything in particular and letting that constant torrent of stimuli distract... only to regret hours later, realizing that you've barely enjoyed or retained anything about it. experience.

These digital platforms are designed just for that, to be the default entertainment source. when you have no particular idea of ​​what to do and just get carried away. And also, to achieve this, they use the information they have been collecting about you, that is, they are especially skilled at it.

If you notice that you usually have this problem, the best thing you can do is set very clear time limits on how and until when you can use tools like Facebook or Instagram.

• Related article: "Why you shouldn't underestimate addiction to new technologies"

5. Don't be obsessed with comparisons

Remember that a powerful tourism industry has been built on the concept of “vacations” that sometimes strives to make the population believe that these are equivalent to expensive trips.

Try not to get carried away by that social pressure arising through marketing campaigns: focus on discovering what you would like to spend your vacation on with the resources and time you have. The best way to plan that time is known by you and no one else.

• You may be interested in: "Festinger's theory of social comparison"

6. Don't give up on your projects

It is good that despite having days off you dedicate a part of these to move forward in projects that are meaningful to you. In this way, you will not limit yourself to living only on a day-to-day basis, but you will accumulate progress and see what you are capable of when your usual work does not limit you so much.

7. Take the opportunity to adopt a global perspective on your life

Vacations are also an opportunity to take a step back and reorient your life from a strategic perspective. If in the work weeks it is easy for us to get caught up in that cycle of attention to urgent tasks and rest during leisure hours, during the vacation period we can go further and rethink what our priorities and interests are.

• You may be interested in: "Existential crisis: when we do not find meaning in our life"

8. Remember that taking care of your mental health is not wasting time

If for any reason you feel that you need to attend psychotherapy, do not assume that this means throwing away your vacation. In addition to the fact that this process will only occupy a relatively short time of your week, it is an investment in your well-being and your mental health, something basic to enjoy not only your free time but life in general.

Do you want to have psychotherapeutic support?

If you are thinking of starting a psychotherapy process or simply looking for psychological assistance for specific needs of your day to day such as raising your children, stress management or certain life problems as a couple, get in touch with U.S.

On Psychotools We work helping people of all ages and currently we attend both in person at our center located in Barcelona and through online therapy sessions by video call.