Vacation Mind…

Have you ever gone on a vacation? First you eagerly anticipate it, then you dream about what you are going to do when you get there. Finally vacation time begins. What is the first thing you do? You turn on your vacation mindset! All required tasks to be completed, put on hold. All stress and strain be gone. “I’m not going to think about anything but having fun with my friends and loved ones.” Then, you have the drink, you eat the food, you have the cake, after all, it’s vacation time! And, how glorious it is! Then, when it’s time to come home, or even the day before, you start switching your mind back out of vacation mode over to work mode, stuff that has to be done mode, let the stress back in mode, the fun is over mode. What a sucky way to live. It’s seems more reasonable to me that we figure out how to spend more time in vacation mode, or maybe every day in vacation mode, vacation mind even.

All of this might be a clever way to say, you get to choose the mindset you want to live in. In vacation mode, all of those things that bring you stress and unrest are still there. They are always there. The difference is you have chosen not to think about them. Even better, you actually let them all go even if only for a week or so. The great deception of life is that we can somehow impact change over events by our insistence on worrying about them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Worry is a useless emotion that serves no other purpose than to introduce us to its cousin – fear. The things we do sometimes worry about are almost always beyond our control. We are worrying because there is nothing we can do. There is nothing we can do! So why are we persisting in that line of thinking? All we can do is what we have always needed to do. Hand it over to God. Let Big Papa be God and do God stuff. This is what He has always wanted us to do. The problem is, most folks don’t understand it fully. They believe in God but think He’s judging their poor behavior. They believe in God but doubt He has time for their minor concerns. They believe God exists, but are not sure how involved He wants to be in their actual lives. Seems to me like the best answer is vacation mind. Let it go. Stop thinking about it. Know your limits. Get back to enjoying yourself while you are alive. Enjoyment is not reserved for two weekend days, a few holidays and little vacations. Get back your vacation mind.

Vacations are not just about not dealing with the stressors and challenges of life. They are also about seeking the things you enjoy. They are a grand pursuit of fun, of relaxation, of peace. They are about rediscovering what thrills you. They are quiet time, alone time, focus on each other time. They are escape from the rat race where no one is winning. They are less phone and more actual face time. And all of that loveliness starts in your own mind with the mindset you bring into the situation. The circumstances may be congenial, but your heart anticipated it as well. How are you living now? Do you postpone your fun for ‘fun’ time? Are you waiting for Friday before you have a drink? Is dessert disallowed? Can you go out on a “school night?” Or must you sacrifice your soul in drudgery on the weekdays and make advanced payments on your leisure time? Are you surviving on the one third rule which equals the 104 days earmarked for fun out of the 365 available? (That’s the weekends for the math challenged-smile) You see, we have gotten something wrong in our estimations. We are playing life by the wrong set of rules. The rules say, hand everything over to God that bothers you or keeps you up at night. Leave it with Him! Then pursue all of the fun and adventure this life offers us. Let your hair down a bit. Turn loose of your game face. Laugh a little and finally relax. Put on your vacation mind and let Big Papa do all of the heavy lifting.

Now, you know and I know that sometimes vacation mind loses its damn mind! It gorges until indigestion catches fire. It wobbles down the sidewalk clutching at hand rails. It should have stopped drinking hours ago. The hike was too aggressive. The sun actually burns! You have to find your Fatboy clothes upon return home. In other words, you exceeded your excesses. You answered the question, “Did I go too far?” The issue wasn’t vacation mind. The issue was excess mind. Maybe we go so hard because we have been trapped like a caged animal for the previous 6 months. Fun has an end point and then it’s on to something else. Vacation mind doesn’t mean the loss of all control. It’s not about letting things go you need to handle. Life demands real responsibility, but that doesn’t mean you have to be morose. Instead you take on life with your happy, relaxed vacation mind and keep handing your problems over to God. He will help you if you just give Him a chance. (You have to let go…) God wants you to enjoy this life and get to know Him more for the next. He wants you to have fun and He does not limit it like an anxious parent. Life isn’t supposed to be mostly drudgery with a sprinkling of happiness. God wants joy and delight most of the time with an occasional drop of trouble; trouble that still can be resolved. I hope you take this to heart and let your vacation mind and heart come back out. You deserve that my friends. Vacation mind!

Just some good thoughts…