Why We Need Vacations

The benefits of taking a vacation start long before the suitcases are packed.（26）_____ It may only be a temporary staging post but looking ahead to a vacation gives us the sense that, whatever’s happening at the moment, there's an end in sight. We somehow expect to feel differently afterwards and are usually proved right.

It's no coincidence that companies sometimes use away-breaks to restore motivation and team relationships.（27）_____ If nothing else, noticing how your thoughts or mood can change on vacation proves that it's possible to feel differently. Yet taking a break is only part of the picture.

People don't disappear while on vacation or go into suspended animation.（28）_____ What really makes the difference is not simply geeing a- way from the old grind; it's being able to do something else instead. We might speak to people we wouldn't normally meet, try spots we’d not do otherwise and discover interests we never knew we had.

Vacations also allow us to focus on the present in a way that's hard to do at home.（29）_____ Sightseeing walks and other recreational activities keep our minds even more in the here and now. This does much more than provide a few pleasant experiences. Being "in the moment" is in itself one of the keys to relaxation, and this happens more naturally on vacation.

Useful as they are in relation to the future, vacations can be even more important in relation to the past. Like major holidays and the change of seasons, vacations punctuate the year and give it a unique character.（30）_____ Vacations are one of these markers. You often hear people recall, for example, that "it was the year we went to Disneyland or "right after we got back from camping". Family vacations can be some of clearest memories people have from their childhoods and important parts of a family's shared history.


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