The Art of Stepping Away: Why We All Need Vacations

Jul 13

There is a soft kind of wisdom in the act of leaving.

Leaving the emails unopened.
Leaving the dishes in the sink.
Leaving the grind behind for a few days, or a week, or (if the stars align) just long enough to remember who you are without your calendar.

A vacation isn’t a luxury. It’s a biological necessity.
A ritual of rest.
A medicine of motion.

We’ve been conditioned to earn our breaks. To hustle until we’re hollow, to stretch ourselves thin and call it resilience. But the truth is simpler, more human: we aren’t meant to be “on” all the time.
Even the sun sets. Even the tides rest.

Let’s talk about why vacations matter deeply, scientifically, soulfully (as I sit on a beach with my husband and family in Turks and Caicos) and why you shouldn’t wait for burnout before booking the next one.

The Biology of Letting Go

Underneath our skin, we are clocks and chemicals. Stress, like rust, wears down the machinery. Cortisol floods our systems in cycles we don’t always feel…until we do.
The headaches. The short fuse.
The bone-deep exhaustion.

But here’s the wonder of it: a change of scenery can reset everything.

Vacations lower stress hormones. They drop your blood pressure.
They slow your heart rate, regulate sleep, reduce anxiety.
One study from the American Psychological Association found that even a few days off can dramatically reduce symptoms of burnout. Another showed that people return from vacations with improved focus and better problem-solving skills.

You don’t need to meditate in a monastery or hike Machu Picchu to benefit.
A cabin two hours away. A beach three states down. A road trip with no itinerary.
Rest doesn’t require grandeur. Just intention.

Mental Clarity Lives at the Edges of Escape

When you step outside of your normal environment, your brain rewires how it sees.

Patterns break. Creativity flows. New experiences stimulate the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory and learning.
That’s why you remember sunsets in Santorini or the smell of citrus in a Spanish market more vividly than your Tuesday meetings.

But it’s not just about making memories. It’s about reclaiming perspective.

We get so close to our lives that we stop seeing them clearly. Distance…literal distance…restores clarity.
You might suddenly realize what you want to change. Or what you desperately want to keep.
That’s the power of pausing.

The Joy of Being Where You Are

Vacations pull us into the present like few things can.

There’s no multitasking when you're hiking through a canyon or standing under a waterfall.
You’re not doom-scrolling or refreshing your inbox while floating in the ocean.
Your body demands your presence. The air tastes different.
The light hits your skin like an answer. And for once, your brain says: Yes. Here. Now.

In that stillness, emotions resurface…grief you didn’t know you’d buried, laughter you’d forgotten you could feel. Vacations open the gates. They make room. They remind you what it means to be fully alive.

Those meetings that used to feel like they were the most important thing in the world? Suddenly they seem less life-changing.

Relationship Repair

We say “quality time” like it’s a calendar block.

But real connection…deep, belly-laughing, soul-nourishing connection…can’t be scheduled between commutes and conference calls.

Vacations give you uninterrupted hours with the people you love.
They create new rituals: the coffee shared on a balcony, the impromptu dance in a hotel room, the story swapped under stars.
These are the moments that glue us together, that soften resentments, that revive intimacy.

Even solo travel reconnects you, with yourself.
And sometimes, that’s the relationship that needs the most repair.

How Often Should You Take a Vacation?

More often than you probably are.

Here’s what research suggests:

Microvacations (3–4 days): Every 3–4 months
Full vacations (7–10+ days): At least once per year
Mental health days: Regularly sprinkled into your work calendar

Shorter, more frequent breaks are often more effective than one long escape per year.
They offer regular tune-ups before anything breaks.

Think of it like dental cleanings for the soul. Both necessary, but one might be less painful than the other.

The Myth of “Catching Up”

One of the biggest reasons people skip vacations is the fear of the return (after the monetary issue of course!): the inbox avalanche, the piled-up tasks, the guilt.

But let’s tell the truth: you’re more productive after you rest.

You make better decisions. You work faster. You bring fresh energy to old problems.
That “catching up” you dread? You’ll breeze through it if you’re operating from overflow rather than depletion.

Burnout costs far more than a week away ever will.

The Forgotten Skill of Doing Nothing

We’ve glorified busy. But vacation teaches a different skill: being.

Being in your body.
Being in your breath.
Being on a balcony with a book and no urge to finish it.

This stillness is deeply uncomfortable at first, especially for achievers. You’ll twitch. You’ll reach for your phone. But give it time.
The fidgeting fades.
You’ll find yourself watching waves or clouds or people with a kind of reverence that you forgot was possible.

This is what healing looks like.

Building a Vacation Practice

Rest should not be reactive. It should be rhythmic. A built-in part of your year, not something you wait to earn.

Here are some ways to make that real:

Pre-book the year: Put one trip on the calendar per quarter, even if it’s a long weekend.
Make your out-of-office sacred: Set boundaries before you go. Let people wait.
Vacation where your soul softens: Don’t just chase bucket-list bragging rights. Go where you exhale and relax.
Unplug strategically: Set screen-time limits, log out of work apps, or go fully off-grid.
Reentry gently: Don’t return to work the day after you fly home. Buffer your life.

The Deep Benefits of Travel-Based Vacations

If your vacation involves planes, passports, and plunges into new cultures, there are added bonuses:

Global empathy: Seeing how other people live reminds us we’re not the center of the story.
Cognitive flexibility: New environments boost adaptability and decision-making.
Awe and humility: Standing before ancient ruins or vast oceans rewires our scale of importance, and that’s healthy.

It’s not always comfortable. Travel tests us…language barriers, missed connections, cultural clashes.
But that friction grows us. It breaks down assumptions.

It builds wonder.

Vacations and the Nervous System: A Love Story

Your nervous system is not a machine.
It’s a symphony of signals (electrical, hormonal, emotional) that hums beneath your awareness.

When we’re stuck in the grind, the sympathetic system (fight or flight) plays lead.
But real rest activates the parasympathetic system…the conductor of calm.

On vacation, your breath slows. Your digestion returns.
Your muscles unclench from months of unnoticed tension.
Even your pupils adjust to softer light, less blue glare.

Vacations aren’t just mental breaks, they’re physiological tuning forks. And in that tuning, your whole body remembers its original rhythm.

Why Vacations Feel Longer in Memory

Ever notice how one week away can feel more expansive than a whole month of routine?

That’s not an illusion. It’s a phenomenon called time dilation through novelty.

New places, new faces, new foods…each one carves a groove into your memory.
Your brain stores novelty like treasures, while routine slips by unnoticed.
That’s why vacations feel timeless: you're building new neural architecture with every step.

You're widening the aperture of your perception.
And long after you return, those memories stretch time in reverse, making it feel like you lived more fully. Because you did.

Breaking the “Busy Equals Worthy” Cycle

Somewhere along the way, “rest” became a dirty word.
A sign of laziness, or weakness, or lack of ambition.

But the truth is, it takes courage to stop.
To silence the productivity soundtrack and ask, “What if my value isn’t in what I produce?”

Vacations challenge that belief at its root. They whisper, “You are enough, even now, doing nothing.”
And for some, that’s the hardest lesson of all. But once learned, it becomes a freedom that spills into your everyday life, a refusal to prove your worth through exhaustion.

You deserve rest not because you’ve earned it, but because you’re human.

Travel as a Spiritual Practice

There is something holy about wandering.

About waking up somewhere unfamiliar, unsure what the day will bring.
Travel, when done with presence, becomes a meditation…a prayer of curiosity. You listen more. You judge less. You adapt.

You notice a sunset that would’ve passed you by at home.
You thank a stranger in broken French and mean it.
Spirituality is not always found in temples.

Sometimes, it’s found in airports and alleyways and quiet hotel balconies where the stillness is new, but the soul feels ancient.

Children, Wonder, and the Gift of New Environments

Vacations are wonder factories…especially for children.

In their world, everything is new, so newness is sacred.
A hermit crab becomes a treasure. A hotel lobby becomes a kingdom.

When you travel with kids, you see the world twice: once with your eyes, once with theirs.
And they’re watching you, too…how you relax, how you handle delays, how you savor mango juice in a country that doesn’t refrigerate it.

You’re not just giving them a vacation.
You’re teaching them how to slow down, how to be present, how to fall in love with the world.

It’s the kind of legacy that doesn’t show up on Instagram, but lingers in their memories forever.

Why Planning a Vacation Boosts Happiness Before You Even Go

The brain is funny, it reacts to anticipation almost as powerfully as experience.
Just booking the flight, imagining the villa, choosing which sandals to pack…it floods your system with dopamine.

It gives you something to look forward to, which psychologists say is one of the strongest predictors of long-term happiness.
When life feels like a tunnel, vacations become the pinprick of light.

They remind you that this moment of grind is not forever. Even if the trip is months away, your body already begins to relax.

You’ve made a promise to yourself: I will rest. I will live. And that promise alone starts the healing.

Reclaiming Joy as a Survival Strategy

Joy isn’t frivolous. It’s not extra.
It’s essential. In a world that’s heavy and complicated and often cruel, seeking joy is an act of resistance.

A vacation doesn’t erase injustice or hardship.
But it replenishes you so you can return and face it with a steadier heart.
It reminds you what beauty feels like in your bones.

It reminds you why you fight, for slow mornings, for oceans that sing, for laughter that shakes you.

Joy keeps us human. And humans, when rested, are dangerous in the very best way.

Not All Vacations Look Like Instagram

Let’s be honest: not everyone’s version of vacation is a seaside resort.

Some find healing in a cabin deep in the woods, far from cell towers. Others in crowded cities where no one knows their name. Some take solo retreats with no talking. Some pile into RVs with three dogs and four kids. Some travel for silence. Others for celebration.

There’s no one way to vacation, only your way.

If it replenishes your soul, it counts. If it reminds you that life is bigger than your to-do list, it counts. If you come home softer, clearer, kinder…it counts.

In a World That Profits from Exhaustion, Rest Is Rebellion

Taking time off shouldn’t feel radical. But in a world that measures worth by productivity, it is.

So rest loudly. Travel boldly. Protect your peace with the same ferocity you give your deadlines.

You are not a machine. You are a breathing, burning, breakable thing. And you deserve more than survival.

Vacations won’t solve everything. But they make space.
And in that space, healing begins.

Let the world keep spinning.
You’ve got waves to watch.

Michele Gargiulo http://michelegargiulo.com