Rosa Weckman: Let's talk about summer vacation

In her newest column, Haaga-Helia's Wellbeing Expert Rosa Weckman talks about summer vacation, its purpose, and its significance for people.

Haaga-Helian hyvinvointiasiantuntija Rosa Weckman - Voima ja Hali
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Last spring, I was thinking a lot about the importance of summer and, above all, what it means to us. Recently, I've noticed that summer has already taken over everyone's thoughts as early as the beginning of May. 

Since the official Mayday, far fewer students have shown up on campuses as their focus is already solely on summer. Although the media occasionally highlights the exceptionally long vacations of the students in a negative way, the reality still is that only a few students can really take off in summer. 

Often, there are at least a million "more important" things to do.

Financial reasons alone force many to work during their holidays. And it is not entirely unheard either that students have to do some summer courses to catch up with their studies. Some may also work for their thesis or search for a permanent job.

Even those who, at least in theory, could have a summer vacation have better things to do. There is an enormous list of tasks waiting to be done during the holidays.

Huge expectations

Many wonder how to manage the expectations of the summer. One approach is to give up the concept of holiday and focus on your own recovery and well-being more broadly. 

In case, you can't go to your dream destination and relax over there, perhaps you could ask yourself what other things you could do to help you recover from the everlasting winter and spring. 

Maybe you could give up waking up so early. I mean, you don't have to make your life unnecessarily hard. Or perhaps you could go outside more often and enjoy an ice cream in a park during your coffee breaks.

You could also make your working habits and environments more enjoyable. Or do some mini-holidays in between.

Full of nonsense

Typically, people associate holidays with earning them. The holiday is often seen as some kind of reward or achievement for hard work. In the same breath, it's also said that the purpose of the summer holidays is to help students recover before the fall semester. That is full of nonsense, I say.

In reality, the purpose of a holiday is to give us time for ourselves, and no one needs to earn the right to it. No matter how your studies are going, you also have the right to take a holiday if you need one.

Truth to be told, a holiday has no purpose outside of itself. Holidays are a vacation, and by no means a tool for coping, as none of us is a battery-powered robot. That is why I want to emphasize that whatever recovery and vacation mean to you, I hope you give yourself the right to breathe a moment.

And since the sun can't be bottled up for a bad day, I would also like you to take a moment to consider how you could bring elements of vacation and recovery to the middle of your daily life to make your life a little bit easier.

I wish you all a wonderful summer!

 

Regards,

Rosa Weckman
Wellbeing expert
Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences