“A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you’ve been taking.” – Earl Wilson
The Matrix had it sort of right, in that we humans are organic batteries that power the machine of Society. Every morning we start with a charge that throughout the day is drawn down by decisions, and interactions, and our contributions to the machines (company, family, social and religious organizations, etc.) and systems around us.
As we deplete throughout the day, we can partially recharge with a coffee break or lunch or a workout or a message from a friend. But even with these microboosts we are still all too often down in the red zone by the end of the day. Draining ourselves like this day after day means that even as we sleep overnight we cannot fully recharge ourselves and we finish the days with lower and lower amounts left, and start to default to energy saver mode throughout the day because we subconsciously realize we do not have enough juice to do it all the way we want or are accustomed to.
That is why we take vacations. Even the anticipation of the vacation gives us a little boost, a couple of extra percent of reserves we can tap into. Then when we go on the vacation (whether it is a four day excursion to Paris, a staycation with nothing planned other than sleep and workouts and a book or a long weekend at the lake), we supercharge the battery bringing it above its 30 day range of maximum energy, maybe even back to optimal.
Most of us can’t do ten days on a beach somewhere, but an afternoon off at the amusement park or sitting on a park bench with no demands can be enough of an unplugging from the machine to give us an extra two weeks of effort. Understanding your energy demands and how to replenish your stores is one of the most important things you can learn so that you can effectively self-regulate and efficiently top yourself off in a time and cost effective manner.
Take yourself away, so that you can take more for another day.