The Link Between Vacationing and Cleaning Blog #12
Sep 26, 2023 by Amy Elizabeth Matuza
“Decluttered spaces invite us to think more deeply about what we really need and want in our lives.” – Leo Babauta
Why does anyone go on vacation? More specifically, why do you go on vacation? Seriously, stop reading for a moment and think of two or three reasons why you vacation. Then, please, keep reading...
Growing up, my family did not really do a ton of vacationing. We really only took one vacation a year – a summer week in Nags Head, North Carolina, with another family that we loved. Sure, we made monthly trips to Pittsburgh to visit our grandparents, and occasionally we might go visit friends in another state. But, we were just not big travelers.
But that one week at the beach? It was my favorite week of the year. All I had to think about each day was what bathing suit I was going to wear and whether or not I had applied enough sunscreen. There were no chores, no real responsibilities, no people that I knew from home, no work, no homework – no nothing. My brain was “clutter free” to live in the moment and explore all of the new possibilities around me. I ate different types of seafood and learned to crab and boogie board – things I did not do growing up in Ohio.
This feeling was like a drug. By high school, I signed up to travel to Europe with the State Department for six weeks on my first trip abroad. This experience was followed by two return trips to Europe my freshman year of college, a semester of study in Luxembourg my sophomore year of college and countless trips since then to not only Europe, but countries in Central and South America, Africa, the Caribbean, and most of the provinces in Canada. I have visited 47 states and hope to eventually make it to the 3 that I have not seen yet. I love to vacation and travel.
As an adult, vacationing still provides me with the same childlike giddiness that I felt in Nags Head. Of course, now I do the planning logistics for our family of five and take on the responsibility for managing most of the itinerary. And the thing is – I love doing that! Not only is the vacation itself something that I revel in, but the preparation for a vacation is equally as addictive for me! Why? More on that later...
This summer, our family took a once in a lifetime trip to mainland Greece and two islands – Naxos and Santorini. It was a ten day trip where the five of us lived out of suitcases and soaked up each day’s unique opportunities to see/try/eat/learn something new. It was magical, and renewing, restful (kind of) and refreshing.
When we returned home to our routine, I started maniacally deep cleaning my house. And this is nothing new. As I said in the intro to this blog, this is kind of my MO actually. I sometimes return home from a trip and sign up for new activities (I just signed up for an adult tap class yesterday), or quit others to “clean up” my schedule. I will pitch food from my pantries or clean out closets. What am I doing? And, why do I tend to do these things after taking a vacation?
Literally a week after our Greece trip, I opened a piece in the New York Times called “The Post-Vacation Clarity” by Melissa Kirsch. It was like she was speaking to me personally. I don’t want to spoil the article (it is quite brief so I would suggest looking it up and giving it a read if you are interested), but here is the gist of it for me as to my need to “clean” after taking time away.
Why do I go on vacation? I go to change up my routine; focus my mind on other things than what it usually does; to feel lighter, more relaxed and fun; to spend time with people I love; to learn/do/experience new things and places; and to simplify my life for a brief moment. This is not exhaustive, but a good summation of some of my top reasons. These same answers are why I like planning vacations because I am either experiencing these same things or putting in the work in anticipation of feeling them when the actual vacation takes place.
When I return home, I want to maintain this type of carefree lifestyle. I want to have the same “joie de vivre” that I did on vacation, having lived out of a suitcase with only that which I could carry and was important enough to bring. This mentality bleeds into my everyday life once back at home and causes me to pause and reevaluate my routine and surroundings. Maybe this is the “vacation effect” that is most impactful to me. By taking time away from your day to day surroundings, you gain a little clarity or new perspective on it when you come back to it. Quoting Melissa from her article, “This change in perspective, I think, more than even the rest and relaxation is the most transformative possibility of vacation.”
It explains why sometimes I come back from a vacation and start cooking some new dishes from wherever we just visited to mix up my “usual” dinner rotation of meals. Or, why I signed my husband and I up for salsa dancing class after one trip to Latin America. (This took a bit of cajoling for D.) Or why I began deep cleaning our home after this last trip to Greece. Maybe vacationing makes me realize that there are things that I am just hanging onto for no reason-like Pictionary Junior from 2008, or my old bed frame from 1973. Or that maybe I should get rid of some old “stuff” to make room for new things or experiences in my life.
So, this month I have been doing a lot of assessing the eighteen years’ worth of “stuff” that has accumulated in our house. I am decluttering space in our home, but more importantly in my mind and life, by letting go of some of the things that I have been holding on to for no reason. In addition to all of the obvious benefits of taking a vacation, investing time to figure out what is weighing me down or preventing me from living fully in my day to day life is perhaps the biggest one of all.
So, why do you vacation? And what will you take away from your next one when you get back home? Happy cleaning!
Why does anyone go on vacation? More specifically, why do you go on vacation? Seriously, stop reading for a moment and think of two or three reasons why you vacation. Then, please, keep reading...
Growing up, my family did not really do a ton of vacationing. We really only took one vacation a year – a summer week in Nags Head, North Carolina, with another family that we loved. Sure, we made monthly trips to Pittsburgh to visit our grandparents, and occasionally we might go visit friends in another state. But, we were just not big travelers.
But that one week at the beach? It was my favorite week of the year. All I had to think about each day was what bathing suit I was going to wear and whether or not I had applied enough sunscreen. There were no chores, no real responsibilities, no people that I knew from home, no work, no homework – no nothing. My brain was “clutter free” to live in the moment and explore all of the new possibilities around me. I ate different types of seafood and learned to crab and boogie board – things I did not do growing up in Ohio.
This feeling was like a drug. By high school, I signed up to travel to Europe with the State Department for six weeks on my first trip abroad. This experience was followed by two return trips to Europe my freshman year of college, a semester of study in Luxembourg my sophomore year of college and countless trips since then to not only Europe, but countries in Central and South America, Africa, the Caribbean, and most of the provinces in Canada. I have visited 47 states and hope to eventually make it to the 3 that I have not seen yet. I love to vacation and travel.
As an adult, vacationing still provides me with the same childlike giddiness that I felt in Nags Head. Of course, now I do the planning logistics for our family of five and take on the responsibility for managing most of the itinerary. And the thing is – I love doing that! Not only is the vacation itself something that I revel in, but the preparation for a vacation is equally as addictive for me! Why? More on that later...
This summer, our family took a once in a lifetime trip to mainland Greece and two islands – Naxos and Santorini. It was a ten day trip where the five of us lived out of suitcases and soaked up each day’s unique opportunities to see/try/eat/learn something new. It was magical, and renewing, restful (kind of) and refreshing.
When we returned home to our routine, I started maniacally deep cleaning my house. And this is nothing new. As I said in the intro to this blog, this is kind of my MO actually. I sometimes return home from a trip and sign up for new activities (I just signed up for an adult tap class yesterday), or quit others to “clean up” my schedule. I will pitch food from my pantries or clean out closets. What am I doing? And, why do I tend to do these things after taking a vacation?
Literally a week after our Greece trip, I opened a piece in the New York Times called “The Post-Vacation Clarity” by Melissa Kirsch. It was like she was speaking to me personally. I don’t want to spoil the article (it is quite brief so I would suggest looking it up and giving it a read if you are interested), but here is the gist of it for me as to my need to “clean” after taking time away.
Why do I go on vacation? I go to change up my routine; focus my mind on other things than what it usually does; to feel lighter, more relaxed and fun; to spend time with people I love; to learn/do/experience new things and places; and to simplify my life for a brief moment. This is not exhaustive, but a good summation of some of my top reasons. These same answers are why I like planning vacations because I am either experiencing these same things or putting in the work in anticipation of feeling them when the actual vacation takes place.
When I return home, I want to maintain this type of carefree lifestyle. I want to have the same “joie de vivre” that I did on vacation, having lived out of a suitcase with only that which I could carry and was important enough to bring. This mentality bleeds into my everyday life once back at home and causes me to pause and reevaluate my routine and surroundings. Maybe this is the “vacation effect” that is most impactful to me. By taking time away from your day to day surroundings, you gain a little clarity or new perspective on it when you come back to it. Quoting Melissa from her article, “This change in perspective, I think, more than even the rest and relaxation is the most transformative possibility of vacation.”
It explains why sometimes I come back from a vacation and start cooking some new dishes from wherever we just visited to mix up my “usual” dinner rotation of meals. Or, why I signed my husband and I up for salsa dancing class after one trip to Latin America. (This took a bit of cajoling for D.) Or why I began deep cleaning our home after this last trip to Greece. Maybe vacationing makes me realize that there are things that I am just hanging onto for no reason-like Pictionary Junior from 2008, or my old bed frame from 1973. Or that maybe I should get rid of some old “stuff” to make room for new things or experiences in my life.
So, this month I have been doing a lot of assessing the eighteen years’ worth of “stuff” that has accumulated in our house. I am decluttering space in our home, but more importantly in my mind and life, by letting go of some of the things that I have been holding on to for no reason. In addition to all of the obvious benefits of taking a vacation, investing time to figure out what is weighing me down or preventing me from living fully in my day to day life is perhaps the biggest one of all.
So, why do you vacation? And what will you take away from your next one when you get back home? Happy cleaning!
