Sometimes you have to move forward when everything in your
being is screaming to either stay put or go backwards. Last year,
I treated this blog like a chore but in doing that, I became
largely uninterested in blogging and only really wrote to
complete a task and check a tick off my list. I think that in
life, the chore-aspect of anything will always make it less
appealing. When we have to get something done (i.e. pay a
bill, shovel the driveway, change the tires, empty the cat
litter), we lose the luster and the spark of the activity.
All of these vacation commercials drive me bananas. It's
like this psychological pleasure-centre that marketers tap
into to dangle carrots in front of the average joe to work really
hard and save up a bundle of dough only to blow it all in 10 days
on a trip to some tropical island. I mean really - what
penultimate good is an island trip going to do for anybody?
Let's look at some pros and cons:
PROS:
-gets you into the sun (good for vitamin D)
-gives you a break from your natural surroundings
-relieves stress temporarily
CONS:
-makes you despise your surroundings even more upon return
-often makes you sick (due to massive climate change)
-psychologically makes you wish you could stay longer
-forces one to spend a lot of money that would have gone
a long way in their natural surroundings
-makes others jealous/angry that they couldn't do the same
-breeds a tourist mindset that allows us to think we can
show up in any community, use up resources and then
leave
Okay - maybe I'm being very negative towards the idea of
tropical vacations. Ultimately, I believe in vacations. I do. The
idea of a temporary retreat from your normal environment is
very healing in the sense that it should make you more
centered and ponder things that you really do like about
your real home. I just don't think people need to fantasize
about going halfway across the world for 10 days thinking
that it's going to cure them. I say that if you're going to go
halfway across the world, quit your job, go for a year and
work there. Figure out the true needs of the community. Make
friendships. Be part of a solution as opposed to a problem.
We don't always need the fantasy of the island to relieve us
from chores. There are lots of cool and beautiful country
side spots 20-30 minutes away from most city centers in
Ontario.
