Do you ever feel like you spend half your tour planning? You plan to get there, how you’re going to settle in, and then how you’re going to leave it all for the next assignment. You are so tired from all this planning that you might put off actually enjoying yourself.
It’s time to actually do all those things you planned to do before you got to your current assignment. It’s time to travel! Don’t worry, you’ll have plenty of time to work through your PCS checklist.
Let's Get This Travel Started!
Don’t Procrastinate
Waiting to schedule your trip increases the chances it won’t happen. It’s pretty common that expats and diplomats love to travel. Scroll through a few Instagram accounts, and you can quickly become jealous wondering if you bid on the right post. Instead of letting the jealousy get to you, let it motivate you to get that trip scheduled.
You Are Worth It
If we have learned nothing else from COVID, it’s that you deserve to treat yourself to what matters to you. Travel costs are up, most costs are up these days. You may have that nagging feeling that you can’t spend the money on yourself or you need to save your leave for another time. Waiting and spacing it out could impact your overall mental health. A study conducted from 1996-2001 by the Marshfield Clinic in Wisconsin found that women who vacation at least twice a year are less likely to suffer from depression and chronic stress than women who vacation less than once every two years.
“The researchers discovered that people thinking about impending experiential purchases, such as ski passes or concert tickets, have higher levels of happiness than those who anticipate spending money on things.”
- Cornell Chronicle, September 2, 2014
Something To Look Forward To
If you book some trips now for the long weekends leading into the summer, it forces you to take a break from PCS and have something to look forward to. It’s also helping you to plan out your calendar and bandwidth. We have talked about this in some prior articles. But the best part of planning for a trip is how it impacts your happiness. A Cornell University study found that not only do people experience an immediate increase in happiness planning a trip, but the mere anticipation of a trip is far greater than the anticipation of acquiring a physical possession.
Where are you thinking of going? I don’t have a trip planned at the moment but we did get tickets to see a comedian at the Arlington Cinema Drafthouse next month, so I count that as a win for me! Hoping to see your travel pics on Instagram so we can live vicariously through you! ;)
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