SCH 054 Hacks for Reaping the Mental Health Benefits of Vacation

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:27 — 8.6MB) | Embed

Vacation is good for your mental health, and these five hacks will help you reap the maximum benefits of your vacation time.

You Want to Take Vacation….But

If you live in the United States, chances are you didn’t take all of your paid vacation days this year. According to a 2019 article in the Washington Post, 55 percent of US citizens with paid vacation didn’t take advantage of all their vacation days. Even worse, did you know the United States is the only well-developed country that doesn’t mandate paid vacation for its workers?

I had no idea countries required companies to give paid vacation. Some countries, such as Austria and Spain require employers to give workers 25 paid vacation days in addition to over a dozen more paid holidays. What do these other countries know that we don’t? Most likely, they understand the mental health benefits of vacation and how vacation helps people work more efficiently and productively.

Today’s podcast offers five self-care hacks for gaining the most mental health benefits of vacation, even if you only have two weeks instead of 25-30 days.

Show Notes

Looking for new skills or thrills? Check out MeetUp.com and find events near you. Due to Coronavirus, many events are virtual.

If you love birding, the BirdingPal.org website has local ‘birding buddies’ all over the world who will give tips of great birding places, spend a few hours showing you local places, and information for trusted birding guides.

You can find tour groups for singles, families, or couples to just about anywhere in the world. Just do an internet search.

Our favorite way to travel? We love to camp, mountain bike, and drive off the beaten path (we stay on roads, just ones that require high-clearance vehicles and four-wheel drive). We drove to Alaska six summers ago, and I’ve driven back every summer since.

Our favorite go-to vacation rental site is vrbo.com.