The Art of Taking a Holiday: Satisfy Your Soul

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The modern world has become an increasingly busy and stressful place, and the idea of stopping to smell the English roses is as antiquated as sitting down to a cup of warm Earl Grey every afternoon. There is no time to do these things anymore. Every hour of the day is full. The rush, rush, rush mentality of the 21st century has turned everyone into drones and automatons. You cannot remember the last time you actually relaxed over the weekend, nor can you remember the last time you made it home on time for dinner.

This year, when it came time to start planning a family vacation, which is the one yearly ritual that has not fallen by the wayside, you wanted to do something special. You wanted your kids to see that relaxation was possible, and that life could be far more laid-back and easy going than what they were accustomed to. However, the trip was as it much for you as it was for the kids, but you decided you would use the idea of the family holiday as a teaching moment. This year there would be no busy theme parks, Disney World or city breaks. You booked tickets to Jamaica, and the family was going to practice the art of relaxing.

Let’s Get Together and Feel All Right

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Bob Marley’s music follows you from the all-inclusive hotel in Montego Bay to Dunn’s River Falls. It shows up again at the Blue Hole Mineral Spring and Negril Cliffs. Out at the cliffs, you wonder where the music could possibly be coming from, but then you remember the spiritual magic of Rasta. Your kids are learning an appreciation for reggae. If they are not sitting on the beach or trying their hand at one type of water sport or another, they seem to be dancing their way from one attraction to the next. In order to enforce full relaxation, you have kept the daily itinerary to a minimum. It is hot and humid; the Jamaican air feels like a soggy sponge. However, nobody is complaining about the heat. Nobody seems to be missing the annual family holiday to Disney World. Everyone, as Bob Marley predicted, is feeling all right.

Redemption Song

Taking your afternoon swim in the Caribbean Sea, you feel as if you have somehow redeemed yourself. Your work is too hectic for you to make it home on time for dinner every night, but you have shown your family that you know how to relax. More importantly, you have taught your kids a vital lesson about the art of taking a holiday. You wonder how long the afterglow will last once you get home.