Vacation – don't travel faster than your soul can keep up

I've been thinking a lot about the vacation thing.

Not as “vacation”… but as how you actually want to live for a few weeks. Because I notice one thing clearly: It's not the pace of everyday life that tires me out the most. It's the pace of life when I don't have time to feel it. And that also applies to holidays. I miss the simple travel. I miss trips where you don't have to stress between places. Not checking out. Not “catching up”. Without where you:

• • goes

• • bicycles

• • stops when something feels good

• • Have a coffee because you want to, not because you have to.

Where the body can be involved. Where the gaze lands. Where thoughts don't run ahead. It's a bit like life takes on a different depth when it goes a little slower. Don't travel faster than your soul can keep up. It almost sounds like a cliché. But there's something to it. When everything goes too fast:

• • we experience less

• • we remember less

• • we feel less

And that's actually the opposite of what we want from a vacation. So for me it has become a simple reminder: If I don't have time to feel it – then it's going too fast. The practical – this is how I do it (for real) I try to keep it very simple. Not perfect. I choose fewer things Better one place than five. Better a long walk than three sights. I move slowly. Walk. Bike. Not for training – but to experience. Something happens when you move forward at your own pace. You see more. You think more clearly. I leave gaps I don't plan every day. It's often the unplanned moments that are the best:

• • a place you weren't meant to stay

• • a call

• • a feeling of “we'll stay here a while longer”

I'm turning down the noise. Not completely offline, but less:

• • smaller scroll

• • less “just a quick check”

It makes everything else clearer. And then what is a little more honest… Because when the pace slows down, something else happens too. Thoughts are catching up. Emotions that you haven't had time to feel. Sometimes I:

• • restlessness

• • a little emptiness

• • “What should I do now?”

And I've started to see it as part of the process. Not something that should be removed. Without anything that shows how I actually feel. A vacation that feels like it – not just passes by What I really want is not a “perfect vacation”. I want it to be felt. That I:

• • remember the smell of a place

• • feeling the body after a long walk

• • actually been there, not just been on the way somewhere

It doesn't require more money. No more planning. It just requires a little less pace. The only thing I'm trying to take home with me No new plans. Not “now I’m going to change my whole life”. Just something simple: What felt good – and how can I keep some of it? Perhaps:

• • walk a little more

• • have more air in the days

• • not fill every gap

Because that's where it lands: Vacation is not a break from life. It's a reminder of what life can also be like.