While many of us spend time away from home during the summer, we still tend to bring with us all the causes of our anxiety.
The English word "vacation" comes from the Latin word vacare, meaning, "to be empty, free, or at leisure."
It eventually became defined in the English language as "freedom from obligations, leisure, release."
Essentially it means that when you are on vacation, you are free from the obligations of ordinary life and are given permission to be "empty" and spend your time in "leisure."
Unfortunately, vacation doesn't always end up feeling like freedom, especially when spending time with family, or when you are in the midst of parenting younger children.
It also doesn't help that we typically bring with us devices that keep us tied to the world and our obligations. We may spend a week on the beach, but if all we do is scroll on our phone (something we do at home on our couch), then we are not truly free.
True freedom
Going on vacation can be an invitation to practice more self-control in order to achieve a greater freedom that our soul thirsts for.
Instead of being glued to our phones while on vacation, probably the best thing we could do is to shut them off and keep them in our hotel room.
Now there certainly are times when we need them, but do we really need to check our work email 12 times a day, especially when we told our boss and coworkers that we would be unreachable?
By disconnecting from our phones, our hearts will be better disposed to be open to God's rejuvenating grace. The more we let go of things, the more we will be "free" to hear God's voice.
The truth is that in our modern world, where nearly everyone can work at home, we rarely take a break for a true, old-fashioned vacation.
St. John Paul II summarized what makes a true vacation in an Angelus message in 1997:
For a vacation to be truly such and bring genuine well-being, in it a person must recover a good balance with himself, with others and with the environment. It is this interior and exterior harmony which revitalizes the mind and reinvigorates body and spirit.
The next time you plan a vacation, consider how to create a better balance that will bring true freedom, so that you can return to your daily life with renewed vigor.
