Back from vacation? How to keep that happy holiday feeling, longer

So you come back from vacation and you feel amazing. You’re refreshed, maybe even tan, relaxed and happy. But then Monday comes around and you have to go back to work. Cue the sad trombone. But you’re still feeling pretty good! You’re telling your coworkers about your trip.

But about a week after a holiday, that vacation glow has usually faded and you’re back to the everyday grind.

So how do you hang on to that sweet, sweet vacation feeling for longer? Or maybe even, forever?

University of California Riverside psychology professor, Sonja Lyubomirsky, says to bring back sense evoking mementos from your trip.

“We know that scent, especially, is very memory evoking,” Lyubomirsky says. “We’ve had the experience where sometimes we’ll smell something and that brings us back to childhood even. Sounds as well, it could be a song that you heard, pictures. But it has to be something that you look at on an irregular basis. If you put a photo on your screen or on your desk, it just sort of fades into the background. You’re not going to notice it after a while. But I think mostly what works for me is not necessarily an object or an item, it’s stories. Remembering a story and repeating it once in a while.”

Another tip comes from a New York Times article featuring Shawn Achor, a positive psychology lecturer. He says planning your vacation well, so you experience as few stressful moments as possible, can make for a more relaxing trip, which can lead to prolonged happiness and more energy when you return.

As far as achieving everlasting vacation glow effects, this lies in the concept of mindfulness.

“Mindfulness, I’ve studied it now for 40 years, is the simple process of actively noticing new things,” says Ellen Langer, professor of psychology at Harvard. “It makes everything old, new again.”

Langer, known as the Mother of Mindfulness, says one of the reasons vacation is so great, is that everything is new and fresh. She thinks everyday life can feel like a vacation if you don’t let yourself get bogged down by routine, if you look at everyday life in new ways.

“I think that the expectation that travel and vacation is fun but work and home is boring or stressful is a big mistake that we make. We have to open up our eyes and notice the things all around us. You don’t need to go on a vacation to feel good, to feel engaged, relaxed. These are states of mind that we can produce readily. All we have to do is give up the mindless notion that work is necessarily stressful, that routines are the way to accomplish things. They become boring. Boredom is in our heads, it’s not in the events in which we’re engaged. When we start noticing new things about the mundane things that we do, the everyday things, we can bring a refreshed perspective to it that makes them exciting.”

Both Langer and Lyubomirsky recommend you pay attention to what made you feel good when you were on vacation and incorporate that into your daily life. Go paddleboarding, prioritize an hour a day to quietly read, take the bus instead of driving, make daily life an adventure.

“I don’t think that one needs a vacation,” Langer says. “If you feel you need a vacation then what you’re doing that’s creating that need is being done mindlessly. The reason you’re traveling is to see new things, but you can see all the new things right where you are.”

I completely agree with the importance of finding happiness and adventure in everyday life, but I can’t agree with her last statement. One of the allures of travel is seeing places that you absolutely can’t see at home: the Egyptian pyramids, the Great Wall of China, the outdoor markets of South America. you can’t experience these places in your hometown. Plus, people should take a break from working. Billions of studies (please enjoy the hyperbole) show that taking a vacation is good for your health.

But if you want to feel happier and more energized in your everyday life, it sounds like mindfulness is the way to go.

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