Life
8 Emotional Stages Of Anticipating A Vacation
'Tis the time of year to be vacationing! With (many) companies shutting their doors over holiday periods, it's like work-sanctioned fun time, and while family is on the cards, so to is taking advantage of this rare, job-free time to properly relax. I'm taking it to Europe for a week, because as it turns out, at Thanksgiving time it's the same price to fly to London and Paris from New York as it is to Minnesota. (Because you know what they say about Minnesota. It's the London and Paris of America.)
Obviously, I am excited about my trip. But there are levels of excitement, and there are many other emotions that have come into play at some point as well. Like any travel, all sorts of mad feelings can be stirred up when you're anticipating your trip. A lot of these revolve around the "What have I forgotten?" game. Obviously there's a lot of stress in the lead up to any vacation, the object of which is relaxation — so it can be a little bit confusing to really emote when you know, intellectually, this is all meant to be about "taking it easy". Here are the emotional stages you'll go through when anticipating a vacation:
1. Self-Satisfaction
You've made it! You've figured out how to afford a vacation! And now you are going on one! Go you!
2. Whimsy
You spend a lot of time imagining the romance and magic of tour trip. What are trips for if not for grandiose imaginings?
3. Practicality
Then reality starts to set in, and you start wondering if you have the right electrical adapters...
4. Anxiety
You start thinking about everything you need to go before you go, all the things you need to pluck and shave and buy and pack and make travel sized and the anxiety starts to set in.
5. Panic
Now you're panicking. There's not enough time. You'll never fit enough shampoo in this travel-sized bottle! You can't finish all the work you have to do before you go! You can't leave the house looking like this! What were you thinking, booking this trip? You should have just stayed home where everything is easy and the same.
6. Stress
The panic will eventually relent to a general feeling of stress, which is your time to shine. Stress puts you in the zone you need to be in to GET SH*T DONE. For instance, today I printed all the information for my travel, accommodation etc. and organized it in a folder and the whole time my heart was palpitating with stress.
7. Calm
After all your stress-induced organizing, you'll be chill AF.
8. Unbridled Excitement
And once you're calm, you can be the giddy child-on-the-night-before-Christmas you should be!
