It is the traditional vacation season, and the House of Duude will be taking only a short vacation or two this year due to some unusual circumstances. Since it was short we did not take the typical weeks to research all possible options and fret over every detail. Nope, this year was a quick ‘hey I found a hotel at the beach for next weekend’ and we went with it. The vacation felt different as a result, not bad or disappointing, but distinctly different.
Turns out that there’s some interesting psychology in planning a vacation. I did a little research and it turns out that psychologists have found that there is considerable pleasure in just planning a vacation because it necessarily involves imagining yourself doing the fun things that you are planning. Another aspect that I had previously not dialed into is that most people have a pleasant sense of anticipation for several weeks leading up to the beginning of the vacation, watching the calender creep closer to the kick off date.
Another question that has been researched by questionnaire is to see how long one might bask in the glow of a recently completed vacation. Most folks indicate that their mood has normalized back after about 2 – 3 weeks of being back in their regular routine.
The mental benefit, using the above, for a one week vacation is good for about 5 weeks of mental bump.