Disconnect on vacation? Better reconnect with you

The holidays, longed for by both children and adolescents as well as adults, mark a period full of expectations. The little ones are eager for the arrival of the school break to sleep late, share activities with parents and friends or spending more time on recreational activities, such as playing sports and playing video game. For their part, adults are not exempt from such sentiment.

Work routines can be extremely stressful for some, so it is common for them to fantasize about what they will do during the holidays.

Considering this scenario, A term that people often use to answer the question of what they will do on vacation is "disconnect", a metaphor used to refer to rest from the daily maelstrom. This is all very well, as it is important to recognize how necessary it is for all of us to pause and take a look at where we are and how we are doing. We feel about it, but what if we gave the term a twist and talked instead of “disconnecting” from “reconnect”? In this article we will reflect on it.

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Can it be problematic to emphasize disconnecting?

Once they arrive, the holidays are a respite from everyday life, since we have more time available to dedicate to leisure. It is very important to respect such a moment, since it has been shown how beneficial it can be for physical and psychological well-being, both in a cognitive dimension (since many leisure activities promote creativity, the development of memory and the thought) as well as in its emotional dimension (as such tasks increase the emotions perceived as pleasurable and decrease the stress).

The prefix -des that is found in disconnect implies negation of what happens to the prefix, in this case, connect. Time and again people insist on how much we need to distance ourselves from what we are permanently connected to: work, studies or school. And it is logical, since the routines that we carry out at the expense of complying with the demands of these spaces —whether imply achieving goals, respecting schedules, relating to difficult people, among others—, can be very absorbents. However, can it be problematic to emphasize the idea of ​​disconnection?

The reality is that it does not have to be, or at least not in itself. Everyone has the right to value certain aspects of what it means to enjoy vacations over others, for For example, understand them as a period to disconnect from routine, to rest from the usual sources of stress and little further. However, reflecting on the words we use could serve to shed light on another alternative: understanding vacations as a period of re-connection with what is truly important. In other words, like a moment to reconnect with ourselves. Let's see this in detail.

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What do we understand by reconnecting with oneself?

Reconnecting with oneself during the holidays alludes to the idea that this period is an opportunity to return to that that is important to our lives but could nonetheless be lost sight of when we were involved in the dynamic daily. It is possible that because of new work or academic responsibilities we have put aside certain activities or hobbies in which we felt fully carried out or through which we found a very valuable degree of emotional expression for us, so the holidays are the ideal time to take them back

On the other hand, reconnecting with oneself implies returning attention to one's own person; It implies welcoming the emotional states and thoughts that are present at that precise moment.. The holidays can be a moment of introspection and necessary self-knowledge; a pause to see how we feel at a certain moment in our lives in light of our values ​​and projects, but also of the people around us. When we talk about a "reconnection" we are emphasizing how important it is to take a moment during this period to ponder how our year or semester was and also plan how we want to act in the face of the future.

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Reconnecting with yourself can be difficult, but it's worth it.

Ultimately, we believe it is necessary to point out that reconnecting with oneself during vacations does not necessarily have to be a rewarding experience. Sometimes looking inside puts us face to face with unpleasant emotions or thoughts that we tend to avoid. Believe it or not, people are experts in carrying out movements to get away from pain. We do it all the time. One of the many behaviors that we could undertake to achieve this is to fill our meeting agendas from work to, for example, avoid thinking "I'm a bad professional" that causes us so much pain cause. Being busy would not in itself be a problem if it weren't for the fact that by doing so, we could be missing out on highly significant experiences for us -this will depend on each person-, such as spending time with our children, for example.

The point of making the frequency with which we tend to resort to avoidance is that if we set out to reconnect with our emotions and thoughts while on vacation, we may encounter painful internal experiences that we would otherwise simply walk away from. Being present with difficult emotions is hard work that not everyone is willing to do, which is valid. One is not always available to work with painful experiences. However, taking the holidays as a time to reconnect with ourselves can help us to be aware of what we happens, where we usually go, where we could go if we acted differently, and finally, where we want to go.

power of Mindfulness to connect with oneself and with the present

Mindfulness, also known as mindfulness, It constitutes one of the most effective practices to connect with the here and now and with the Self. Its fundamental idea consists in not trying to disconnect from our concerns by avoiding this kind of thoughts, but rather pay attention to the present moment from an attitude of acceptance, without judge. This way of processing the information that comes to us from the environment or from our own body is a powerful emotional self-care tool, and can be learned with professional help.

If you are interested in training in the practice of Mindfulness, contact us.