The Value of the “Do-Nothing” Vacation

Merriam-Webster describes the word “vacation” in part as “a respite or a time of respite from something”. The question then remains a respite from what? What people do with time to consider leisure or time away on vacation, or as is commonly termed in Europe “holiday”, varies from family to family individual to individual. Some folks enjoyed traveling to places they’ve never been and seeing as many of the sites that they possibly can fit in. Detailed itineraries tend to be the order of the day to maximize the experience by taking in as much as possible in a place that is not normative for the vacationing tourist. Some vacationers, however, prefer to slow down during holidays, the classic been sitting on the beach under an umbrella, drink in hand watching the waves and engaging in the pursuit of relaxation.

For much of my life, I was in the first crowd and I cannot say that I do not still take trips with an intent to see as much as possible. In recent years, however, I have come to appreciate what appears to be the vacation where nothing is done apparently to the casual observer, but in all reality has great utility. One could argue that these “do-nothing” vacations are ripe with opportunity and are just as if not more essential to living a fulfilled and productive life back home as those holidays we spend sightseeing. So what opportunities do these provide? And must it always be on a beach somewhere? It is this idea I’d like to think about with you today.

The opportunity to unplug.

We live in a world with twenty-four hour, seven day a week connection to other individuals and whole communities thanks to the internet, smart phones and social media. Many good things come from these technologies is no doubt, but our immersion in them all the time can be distracting and can actually garner too much of our time and energy, harming those very relationships we intend to foster. When we have stepped away, out-of-town, it is considered socially acceptable if we cannot answer email, and even text messages and phone calls. Truth be told, how many of these are actually so urgent as to require immediate attention? Our vacation time is an opportunity to unplug and put these distractions away and alone our brains and bodies a time to rest from these constant demands. This frees up the mind to think of broader questions, bigger pictures and those things in our lives that are important to us but not necessarily constantly demanding our immediate attention.

The lost Art of boredom.

When I was a kid, you knew better than to go tell your mother that you were bored because there were always chores to do around the house. We had television, but only three channels and they were not broadcasting around the clock. What is more, there was a set broadcasting schedule so what was on was what was on. The idea of on demand programming was a fantasy. Our television watching was also quite restricted as was the normative parenting practice at the time. It was during his era that the television got such nicknames as “the idiot box” or “the boob tube”, the latter having to do with one’s intellectual disposition and nothing to do with anything mammary. We kids in our spare time explored our natural world whether it be the city block or the suburban neighborhood or the back forty of the farm. Psychologists now understand that boredom is not necessarily a problem to be solved. It is during this state of mind that much of the mind’s most creative processes occur. If Isaac Newton was not sitting under an apple tree thinking, but instead was scrolling through social media for watching Netflix, he may not have come to the moment of realizing how to describe the forces of gravity. If Albert Einstein was not staring out the window on a train, but instead was typing away on a laptop or surfing websites, who knows if he would’ve formulated what we now know as the theory of relativity. This is not to say that these technologies are in themselves without benefit because they certainly are. The point is that when we allow our minds to quiet and process, our most creative thinking and understanding occurs. In his book Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport described that our minds are much like computers and that they can either take information in or process it, but not both at same time. If we are constantly stimulated by incoming information from other minds, we’re not allowing time for processing. If we can step away from that world, where we can’t even stand in a five-minute line without pulling out our phones and seeking stimulation, how then can our creative, deeper minds have a chance to process?

On the Value of Boredom by Genevieve Bell

The virtues of long walks.

When Thoreau moved to Walden Pond, he spent at least four hours per day walking in the woods to contemplate. He credited these times with the development of his most creative work. The process of walking about, particularly in natural surroundings, allows the mind to process in a way prevented when in a degree of constant distraction.

When we think about how our modern educational system works in America, would our children be well served to have as part of their curriculum a one hour walk each day, surrounded by nature? No lecture. No expected curricular assessment by the teacher. No particular demands other than walking in silence, unplugged allowing one to think. Call it a “daily nature hike” or “daily thinking walk” or whatever suits the local culture, but we can imagine how this unplugging one hour per day will give the coming generations a powerful and time tested tool to access their creative mind.

How often should we vacate?

How often we take formal “vacations” varies from one individual to the next and one family to the next. As a principle for information processing, creative thinking and big picture consideration, we could consider a tiered approach with the temporal length of our contemplative time running inversely to its frequency in the year.

For thousands of years, the Jewish and Christian traditions have had built into them one day a week of “rest.” One day of contemplation, prayer and reflection, time with family and friends apart from the work of the rest of the week. The wisdom of this tradition can be described as a mechanism by which we can allow ourselves to rest our minds, contemplate larger questions, seek out broader perspectives regarding the events in our lives and spend our time in human interaction with those in our lives who mean the most to us – our friends and family. The idea is that with this practice the other six days may be spent engaged in our work and in our lives in general with a degree of intentionality. It could be argued that this is a weekly “mini-vacation”.

Could we then expand this idea to daily “vacations” of a few minutes or even an hour unplugged and open to contemplative thought. Millions of people across the world swear by the benefits of daily meditation allowing the quieting of the mind and the focusing of the body and spirit.

Could we even have monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual “sabbaths” or “vacations” or whatever we’d want to call them? Could such a practice deliver an opportunity to live more intentionally? In our current age more than ever we are at risk of mentally “running” so to speak from one distraction to the next, one task to the next with time slipping by until an illness or a tragedy strikes forcing us to slow down we become not only anxious without the constant stimulation we are used to but we then wonder where the time has gone. We can find ourselves having lived for years a life inconsistent with what we intend.

So what counts as a “vacation”?

The first distinction I probably like to make is the difference between a vacation and a trip. To my thinking, a trip is some kind of a voyage with a purpose of some sort. Maybe this to see some sights or to visit family or friends, a religious pilgrimage to a sacred place, etc. A vacation to my thinking is a bit of a different experience. Even though it involves a physical voyage, I think the difference is mostly one of mentality and purpose.

If we see a vacation as a time to unwind and include ahead and Think about larger issues in our lives away from the distractions of our everyday life, then this would be how I would think of this term “vacation”. So, what qualifies then?

We live in a world currently that is very much molded by ourselves and by our fellow humans to suit our needs and desires. We live in constructed homes, drive on paved roads, transport ourselves around in vehicles made of metal and plastic. We were, however, for many thousands of years in a more natural environment. Many have observed that the best thinking is done when surrounded by nature. Thoreau himself one for walks in the woods for hours at a time at Walden Pond the Spend his time thinking. Walks in the woods, camping, going to the beach, going to the lakeside, places surrounded by natural phenomena tends to re-create this natural phenomenon in which our ancestors lived for many thousands of years. These types of environments are the most conducive.

For city dwellers, places like city parks are often very helpful for this purpose. Anyone who was visited New York City and seen Central Park in consideration of this phenomenon is very aware why it is there, or at least one reason. The beauty of the Boston Commons as another example of a combination of natural and man-made beauty in the midst of a large metropolitan area. Another option for the city dweller or those visiting the city might be the museum. In particular art museums it also receives of natural history and so forth can be rather thought-provoking in their own right and lead to contemplations that otherwise would not be provoked. For those who are not city dwellers sometimes a trip to a city with which you’re not particularly familiar but Just to spend some time can evoke some of this phenomenon as well, although classically unnatural surrounding, just typically what has been pursued.

What is not the environment for the mind that is the most useful for reflective and creative thought? Many of the “unwinding” activities people think of don’t necessarily contribute to the mind processing and the flow of its creative thoughts. Some of these would include watching television, Internet surfing, listening to audiobooks or reading books, playing videogames, as well as group athletics or going out drinking with friends. This is not to say there’s anything wrong with any of these activities, but just that they tend not to create the environment that fosters the quieting of mind to process and create. If one was to distill down the essential ingredient of a vacation, it would be the ability to quiet distraction to have access to your own brain only, without the input of other minds.

Aren’t we just giving up time that otherwise would be productive?

In his book the 80/20 rule, Robert Koch described the phenomenon that has been observed for so many years that 80% of our results come from 20% of our activity. The well-placed vacation come allow us to reflect on what part of the 20% we need to focus on what 80% we need to minimize or eliminate. If we just keep doing what we’ve always done, are we just always going to get what we have always gotten?

So why should we vacate?

There’s nothing wrong with taking trips, God knows I enjoy those myself. In fact it’s something we should do to see the world in a way that is easier to do and more affordable than humanity has ever seen in its history. It is also true that in much of our lives we simply need to put our noses to the grindstone and do the work that needs to be done. But if we don’t look up from time to time both in small ways and large ways, in an environment that is conducive to reflection, we can lose sight of we’re going. Then, after a while, if we are not intentional, years and even whole lifetimes can go by before we know it, we’ve gone down an entirely different path than we would have wanted otherwise. Daily reflection, a weekly Sabbath, quarterly retreats and an annual vacation can be designed to help us reflect on larger questions can help keep living our with intentionality.

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