Five keys to tuning out the noise and living mindfully while on vacation.
Vacations seem to stretch time. Spending two weeks backpacking around Europe feels a lifetime longer than two weeks spent slogging away in the office. This time-warp effect can, in part, be attributed to a trip’s ability to help you live in the moment, says Michael Gervais, Headstrong Meditation creator, yoga teacher, and Equinox’s Senior Director of Group Fitness Programming.
“When you disrupt your routine, you actually can become more present, because you are out of your element,” he explains. “You're not just sleep-walking through [life], making your coffee every morning, getting to work, getting lunch. All these routines that you typically have, you're figuring out all of those — what you're going to do, all of your excursions — on a daily basis.”
Still, in the ever-online world, it's tough to fully disconnect while on vacation. How would your followers know that you're having the best time on your cruise if you don't post about it on Instagram?
Being mentally “elsewhere” while on a getaway comes with a price. Savoring the moment has also been linked with feeling positive emotions. Plus, “science does show that if you can truly unplug, you're going to maximize your vacation, which is going to make your work better when you come back,” says Gervais. “It's going to prevent burnout. It's going to help you see things with clear or fresh eyes and get out of any kind of psychological rut that just comes from being overworked.”
Toting your phone around is often necessary for safety. But if you feel comfortable leaving it in your hotel room, spend a day exploring offline. “It’s much more adventurous,” says Gervais. “It means that you are likely going to have to ask for directions, which is a really incredible way to be able to engage…And if you really want to experience a place, you have to interact.”
So how do you resist the tug to check social media and work emails and embrace the present? These tips can help.
1. Set Boundaries.
In order to avoid late-night emails — and stifle anxiety about all the work that’s building up in your absence — establish boundaries before your trip, says Gervais. Remind your colleagues that you’ll be unreachable during this time and set up a game plan for yourself.
Do you feel calm when you’re able to quickly read emails each day, trashing the spam and creating a to-do list for your return? Limit yourself to a few minutes of organizing each day so those unread messages don’t take up brain space during your excursions or beach time. Does skimming through your inbox raise your blood pressure? Sign out of your account and close out the Mail app for your entire trip. Each person is different, says Gervais, so spend some time considering which practice is best for you before you jet off.
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2. Consider Your Why.
“Don’t use your phone” is common advice for living in the moment, but doing so while on vacation often isn’t practical. There is a time and place to take photos, like if one of your travel buddies couldn’t come on the excursion or a knick-knack reminded you of a friend back home.
However, if you’re capturing content to curate a highlight reel of your life, it’s worth considering if this phone use is truly adding value to your trip. What’s your intention when snapping a photo? “I think the framing is always something to pay attention to,” says Gervais. “Think of all the things that you experience when you're not taking a picture — what doesn't fit in a square. You're seeing with all the peripheral vision. You're experiencing the smells, the sights.” It’s a multi-sensory experience that doesn’t get showcased on IG.
3. Take a Picture — with Your Mind.
If you find yourself impulsively turning every moment into a photo opp, Gervais recommends pressing pause before pulling out your phone. Instead, take a picture with your mind, a nugget of wisdom he heard from a friend years ago. “A picture is never going to really be able to get the entirety,” he says. “A picture can't capture the feeling of the air, the temperature of the air, or the exact light of a sunset — it's never going to really capture the real size of the moon.”
If that mental polaroid satisfies, then you can stay tech-free in the present moment. If not, give yourself permission to grab a quick pic. Just remember, are you actually going to revisit that sunset photo six months or six years from now? “Maybe not, but you can allow in that moment the sunset to transform you at a cellular level, and that's going to be more lasting than a picture in a lot of ways,” says Gervais.
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4. Challenge Your Phone Use.
Any time you feel the instinct to bust out Google Maps or look up a restaurant menu, take a beat to decide if the task at hand is something you can do without your phone instead. Can you ask the person sitting next to you at the coffee shop for directions? Can you chat with your server about the best meals they have to offer? This chit-chat may seem minor, but people tend to learn more from conversations with strangers than they expect to, research suggests. “I think you’ll find that if you strike up conversations, that can lead to all sorts of adventures you wouldn't normally have had if you were lost on your phone,” says Gervais.
5. Use Your Five Senses.
“A lot of times, we try to create a cocoon around ourselves, with music, with sunglasses, even with clothing, to sort of not have to experience the world around us,” says Gervais. “While traveling, if you do want to stay present, the easiest way is to tap into your five senses.”
Take the time to observe every sight around you, from the worn bricks beneath your feet to the birds flying high. Taste the local cuisine. Pause to smell the sea breeze and scent of croissants wafting out of a bakery. Sit on a park bench and listen to the passerby, traffic, and wind blowing through the tree branches. Touch the century-old buildings, the sand beneath your feet, the moss you encounter on a hike.
“Actually lean into the things that make this place different than just going to your same creature comforts and looking for whatever is going to be the closest thing to home,” says Gervais. “Look around, make eye contact, engage with people — those are going to be ways that you become more present.”