Vacation Without Vacating

This summer I’ve been itching to get rest. I thought it would come from a trip of some sorts, but I realized that what I needed is where I am. 

On Tuesday, July 27th I set up an automatic “out of the office email,” notified my family and close friends, and turned off my phone. From Wednesday July 28th to Saturday, July 30th I disconnected from the digital world and reconnected with the physical world. 

Sure, I could have kept my phone off and just cleared my schedule but there was something liberating about being completely out of touch. I’m a people person, so I know I would have wanted to talk to people, but I needed some time to myself. 

It was honestly one of my best vacations—restful, restorative, relaxing— and it was all done right in my own home. I know for staycations people recommend going to a hotel but I found that I could get away without going somewhere else, by just being where I was. What made this vacation special was not where I went, but how I reimagined where I was. 

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So how did this all begin? Well I was originally planning to go to Ghana after I finished my one week teaching program, but on Monday I found out that I was not going. I was mentally preparing to get that “vacation” in Ghana, but when plans changed I knew that I still wanted to get that break even if the location was not what I expected. After four years of nonstop work in college and graduate school approaching in the fall, I desperately needed a break. Since going on a new trip was not an option for me, I had to think about how I could rest even if I could not physically travel somewhere to do so. 

On Tuesday night I notified those closest to me that I would be off my phone until Saturday. My sister and brother were home so if my family really needed to reach me they could contact them. In the past I’ve spoken about how my ideal day would be not having my phone, being outside and just being. And that is exactly what I did. I was nervous, but I took a leap of faith.

I did everything that I had been meaning to do and I did it here, at home. I slept in without an alarm, spent unencumbered time with God before I got out of bed and did my morning routine. I was surprised how much time with God could just run over when I wasn’t distracted by my phone or pressed to attend a meeting. I painted my nails outside in the front lawn. I could feel the breeze on my arm, hear the birds in the air and see the clouds slowly move across the sky. After dropping my brother off at practice (that was my last time “doing things” during my vacation), I went to the library, checked out a historical fiction book and sat down to read for over 2 hours in front of the big glass window. I have not read for pleasure in such a long time and it was nice to indulge in that pastime. I drove without my GPS, went to get food and listened to live music in Easton. I felt like I was in a different place, yet I had been there before, just not like this. By unplugging from my phone and being present, the familiar became beautifully unfamiliar. 

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In Genesis 2:2, NKJV it says, “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” God ended his work and chose to rest. Notice how God ended the work and rested—He is the active participant in His rest. It’s not that when His work was all done, then he rested. No, He paused and rested. Then after he finished, He got back to His important work. If God Himself took the time to rest from the important work that He was doing, how much more us?

Sometimes I wonder if God chose to model and sanctify rest because He knew that we would be inclined not to. In this fast paced, hyper productive world we live in it can be so hard to rest, but it is necessary. Rest is a discipline worth developing. I once heard this quote “Rest begets rest.” So though it may be difficult now, the more you rest, the more it’ll become a natural part of your life. 

You don’t have to get away to get a break. So whether you’re on a budget or just waiting until your next vacation, you can still rest. Maybe for you that looks like taking the evening off, or taking the weekend off or going somewhere without your phone (safely, of course). But whatever it is or wherever you are, I encourage you to be present. Just imagine what our day to day lives would look like, feel like, if we went on regular vacations by just unplugging and being present. 

What’s something you can do this week to rest?

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Note: I love to listen to music while I write, and I love to share what I love. So the writing Song for this week is The Rock by the Walls Group (gotta love those Darrell Walls adlibs).