Vacation from Life

"I want a life I won't need a vacation from"

When you've been working for more than 3 years, you start to settle into a routine and some of the passion you used to have dissepates. It's not really a matter of choice, it just happens. From pushing for a promotion, you start looking forward to vacation leaves and taking a break from work. It's a sad thought but that is the reality for a lot of young professionals.

I like to travel--you probably have figured that out by now. I've always believed that travelling is something you do to "add" to yourself. To help you grow. To help you mature.

But there are times that the idea of travelling loses its purpose. You begin to travel for the sake of travelling. Just because. And then in the middle of your trip, despite the activities you engage in, you start feeling empty.

You start questioning why you're even on that trip. What's the point of all of it?

It's sad when you get this realization in the middle of a trip. And then you realize, what you really need is not a vacation; is not a break from your routine. Or a lame excuse to start growing up. What you need is a life you don't need a vacation from.

It's so easy to get overworked and start wanting a brief break from it all. So you start planning a vacation. But instead of it being a thing you look forward to, it becomes just that-- a break from the routine.

I miss the times when vacations meant more than just a break. Vacations should also be about the place you go to. About embracing the culture; taking in all the sights and sounds; getting engrossed in the moment. Of forgetting about yourself and your issues and just being there. Being present. Knowing that you are blessed and that trip is not a break from your life, but part of it.

That feeling that you're not running away from something but just continuing what you had. Of not looking at foreign lands as the greener pasture, because in your reality, what you have, whether at home or abroad is the greener pasture. There is no line separating your reality. There is no concept of "vacationing" or "taking a break from reality" because ALL OF THIS is your reality.

I hope none of us will ever lose the vigor to travel. But I also hope that none of us will look at travelling as a means of running away from something. We don't need a vacation. We don't need a break. Our lives today, whether we are in the home base or travelling elsewhere, is OUR life. It is all of it. When we're abroad, it doesn't mean we become another person. We are still the same people we were when we left. Still have the same issues. Still face the same problems. Our realities did not change. We just happen to be in another country.

I hope all of us would have the kind of life we won't need a vacation from. And that the concept of vacationing be that which we look forward to not one that we feel like we NEED.

Here's to travelling the world, not for the sake of it or because we need a break, but because seeing the world is something we've dreamt of doing. It is a goal in itself, not a just something to waste time on.

//Photos from my recent Singapore- Malaysia trip :)