Adventure Awaits: The Surprising Benefits of Active Travel for Rest, Relaxation, and Rejuvenation
Sep 05, 2024
Have you ever taken a vacation and come back more exhausted than before you left?
If you are giving me a resounding “yes” you are not alone my friend. One of the benefits of being a high achiever is that you thrive on working and doing life at a fast pace. You are used to working hard and accomplishing a lot.
The problem comes when you get addicted to this pace, one that over time becomes unhealthy and can lead to burnout. Because you don’t know how to slow down, your vacation time (if you take it) is as frenetic as your day-to-day life. See if the following sounds familiar:
- Even when you are technically “off work” you are not really off.
- When you do take vacation, you pack it all in – you don’t want to miss anything.
- Then you beat yourself up because you have overscheduled yourself (again) and wish you had more down time.
This is the fourth and final blog in the series Why Sabbaticals Are Important: The Benefits of Taking a Break. Today I will share my own lessons learned in taking a sabbatical and teach you the important do’s and don’ts to travel unplugged and return refreshed and rejuvenated.
If you have been following along each week you have discovered how vital it is for entrepreneurs to incorporate time to completely unplug and recharge your body, mind, and spirit.
You desire to have a “life in balance.” And you understand that it is not easy to achieve, but it is possible.
Hopefully, you have been inspired to dream about your own sabbatical and have taken steps toward it. Or you’ve done it! You’ve scheduled your sabbatical and are committed to a time of rest and rejuvenation.
If so, this has been a long time coming and now you want to ensure that it is everything for which you have hoped.
When I took my first sabbatical ten years ago, I learned a lot about myself, and just how difficult it is to be an unplugged entrepreneur.
Follow these helpful do’s and don’ts to set yourself up for a life-transforming sabbatical.
Fourteen Do’s and Don’ts for a Refreshing Sabbatical
1. Do Choose Your Destination Carefully. The best way to ensure that your trip goes well is to choose a destination that you will really enjoy. Do you love the beach, the mountains, seeing a new city, or exploring ancient ruins? Make a list of the top places you have always wanted to travel and research them. Ask feedback from others that have been there.
2. Do Allow Plenty of Time at Your Destination. As the designated travel planner in our family, one of the mistakes I have made is trying to pack in too many locations in one trip. Unless you enjoy hopping from place to place every day, give yourself extra time. It helps you to slow down a bit (a good thing) and get to experience the people and communities where you are.
3. Do Balance Relaxation with Activities. In our most recent South America Adventure we found it worked well to spend one week “doing” and the same amount of time “being.” For example, after our 7-day tour in the Galapagos islands, we spent a full week relaxing in one of the beach towns with no agenda. After an incredibly fun and heavily scheduled week, it was fabulous to sleep in and take long beach walks as we felt like it.
4. Do Schedule in Down Time. And then more down time. Traveling on your sabbatical can be an amazing opportunity to see the world and play hard, but it’s also important to make sure you are taking time to rest and rejuvenate.
Rest should be one of your highest priorities. I had to learn that rest is “productive” and worth my time. Remember, doing nothing is something worth doing. Be sure to schedule more down time then you think you need. This recovery time is essential for your mental and physical wellbeing.
5. Do Incorporate What Refreshes You. I mentioned this in the last blog, and it is critical so here it is again. Get clear on what fuels you and remember this may be vastly different than what fuels others in your life. The purpose of your sabbatical is to recharge your batteries.
If you are traveling with your partner or a friend, talk about what they want to do as well. Then pick some activities to do together and some separate. For example: My husband Graham and I both like exploring nature. But for relaxing - I love finding a local spa and he would prefer to spend the afternoon chatting up the locals.
6. Do Schedule Activities You Love. During your sabbatical is a perfect time to schedule activities that you love and don’t get a lot of time for at home. Look up beach yoga, a CrossFit studio, or scenic hikes in the area. One of my favorite activities while traveling is to find a local arts show or farmer’s market. Focus on experiences you won’t find at home or activities that are unique and interesting to your area of travel.
7. Do Turn All Electronic Devices Off. To be present in the moment, and truly rest your mind from your work, turn your devices off. As I talk about in my blog Digital Detox: Why Scaling Back Your Screen Time is Important, begin by making the decision you are going to unplug. Unplugging is the act of disconnecting from technology – literally and figuratively.
When I took my first sabbatical, I was so addicted to my phone that I would catch myself checking and responding to email and texts regularly. It took me locking the phone up in the hotel safe to break the habit! The bottom line – do what you need to do to remove the technology temptation.
8. Don’t Be So Scheduled. Plan ahead but be spontaneous! If you are a natural planner, the tendency is to plan out every aspect of your trip. Believe me I have been there, done that. Over time and travel to a number of places around the world, I have realized a “balance” is important. (Are you getting the trend here?)
I have found there are some things that need to be scheduled – for example the special tour that there is a 6-month waitlist - and it is also refreshing to leave open spots to explore something that wasn’t on your list. Instead of checking things off your itinerary, think about it as an opportunity to let things happen organically.
9. Don’t Check Your Emails. This will be short and sweet. You put on your out of office for a reason, and you have let everyone know you are “not checking your email” so – don’t check it.
10. Don’t Do Any Business Reading. Remember you are “resting” from your work, so this means resting your mind from anything work related. Why not make this a time where you do some reading for fun?
A couple extra tips: Ask your friends for favorite reads before you go, and download them on your kindle for ease of travel. Pick up a new book in the airport and then leave it at the destination where you finish it. Many hotels and rentals have the “take one, leave one” libraries.
11. Don’t Do Any Work. Ok, this may seem obvious, but most entrepreneurs bring their laptops on vacation. My friend, if you are working, you aren’t on vacation. My suggestion is to actually leave your laptop home when on a traveling sabbatical. If this makes you start to hyperventilate thinking about it, pack your laptop and set boundaries for yourself around it’s usage.
12. Don’t Give Up Your Exercise Routine. As you know, your physical fitness is important to your overall health. Don’t look at your sabbatical as a time to break from exercise. In fact, your intentional break from work should free up more time to be active.
Think about what types of exercise you enjoy doing and incorporate these activities within your travels. Graham and I love to adventure in nature and booked several guided hikes on our recent South America trip.
13. Don’t Throw Out Your Healthy Habits. Sure, it can be fun to let loose occasionally, have that next cocktail, and stay up too late. There is nothing wrong with these things in moderation, but don’t throw out the healthy habits you have worked hard to instill on your sabbatical.
With a little planning and help from Yelp and our lovely hotel concierge we discovered amazing farm-to-table restaurants in the unique places we visited. As mentioned earlier, balance the “fun” with getting ample rest - it is the ticket to a refreshing trip.
14. Don’t Miss the Moments. Did you know that studies show you actually retain less memories when you are actively trying to record them? When all you think about is getting the “Instagram photo” you can miss truly experiencing the moment.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t photograph your fun adventures - just remember to have a balance between recording the events and enjoying them. One thing that I like to do is keep a travel journal. When on the train or plane to the next destination I write about my favorite parts of the trip, the highlights, and interesting things that happened.
There’s the list. Apply these 14 tips to set yourself up for a successful sabbatical. Learning to unplug is such an important habit that you must work hard to instill in your own life as a regular practice.
And don’t be too worried about getting it all right the first time. You are going to be amazed at how you feel and the renewed energy you have for your work and life.
I hope this series has inspired you to start dreaming and planning for your first sabbatical. Taking regular intentional breaks has made a profound difference in my life, and it will in yours too.
Links mentioned in this series:
The Success Life YouTube Channel
Free Resources:
Questions to Ask When Planning Your First Sabbatical
