The Power of Vacation Time, and How to Compare Yourself to Others
Hi Folks! Connor and Nick here from Healthy Living With Nick and Connor. Thanks again for being on our email list, it means a lot, and we are excited to share our weekly email with you. We hope you enjoy it! Here is what we hope you take away from this one:
Time to take back your vacation days to improve your happiness, your relationships, and your life.
Comparing yourself to others should not make you feel bad. If it does, it is time to change how you look at others, how you compare yourself to them, and who you actually compare yourself to.
Relearn how to think critically about your life, and make sure to prioritize your relationship with others.
Starter Mindset Tip: Remember to Use Your Vacation Time
It is time to reclaim your vacation days to make time for yourself, some leisure time, and some time to spend with others. The number of vacation days we use has declined over the past 3 decades, even though those who use all their time off report being 20% happier in their relationships and 56% happier in general. (Headlee, xvi) This is a pretty staggering statistic. If you are sitting there thinking that you are too important to take time off, or your company will not be able to function without you, or you don’t take time off because you just don’t know what you will do with your time, then it is time to change your mindset. Your company will function without you, your job will be there when you get back from vacation, and you can relearn the things you used to love to do in order to fill in the time that vacation days provide you. Improve your relationships, improve your happiness, take time off folks.
Health Recipe: How You Should Compare Yourself to Others (We’d Ask You to Stop, But We Know That is Not Realistic)
Timing: Just takes a little time to be real with yourself
Level of Difficulty: Easy to hard depending on how you look at others
Serving Size: Think a little bit every time every time you compare yourself with others and ask yourself if it makes you feel good or bad
Spiciness: It can always get a little spicy when you be real with yourself, but the more you do it, the milder and calmer it will get and you will feel
INGREDIENTS
Just yourself and an honest look at your life and your thoughts
REASONING AND BENEFITS
Ideally, we would ask you to stop comparing yourself to others, but we know that is not realistic. Our desire to compare ourselves to others is ingrained in us. This is based on an evolutionary need to fit into a group for the benefit of survival, and to avoid feeling like an outsider. (Headlee, 188) Nowadays, comparing yourself to others can make you think like you are missing out, aren’t doing enough, or being lazy. This can lead to feelings of anxiety, envy, and inferiority. If you compare yourself with others, and this is what it makes you feel like: STOP. If however, you look at the people around you and they motivate you to try new things, and strive for more in a healthy way, then keep it up. Before everybody's lives were on TV and social media, we only compared ourselves to friends, family, and neighbours, when we would strive for the social and/or economic class just above us. Now we can strive to be and compare ourselves to two new kinds of people: (1) the rich and famous, and (2) the distorted reality of the people on our friends lists that are only showcasing the best parts of their lives. These are two unrealistic options to compare your lifestyle to that you should stop now. Let’s stick to the good comparisons here. Compare yourself to the people that you actually see, with your eyes, in person. Focus on your co-workers, your neighbours, your friends, and your family. What are they doing that you want to be doing? How do they make it happen? Is it realistic for your lifestyle and life stage? If yes, go for it. If not, be able to recognize that it fits into their life, but not yours. Be honest with yourself, be realistic, strive for what is possible for you.
INSTRUCTIONS
Be real with yourself for a moment here. Do you compare yourself to others? Who do you tend to compare yourself to? What aspects of their lives do you focus on the most? Do you strive to be like any of the people you compare yourself to? Are these aspirations realistic? Do you feel good or bad when you compare yourself to others?
If you feel bad based on the comparisons, ask yourself why. Is it because you compare yourself to the rich and famous, and/or people on your friends list showcasing the best parts of their lives? If yes, then stop now. If the comparisons that are making you feel bad are unrealistic for your life, then stop now.
If you feel good based on the comparisons, then keep it up in a healthy way. You can use the people around you for motivation, inspiration, and new ideas. That is fantastic.
Look at the people around you that you see in person: your co-workers, neighbours, friends, and family.
Be honest with yourself, be realistic, strive for what is possible for you
PRO TIP: If you are a parent and you find yourself thinking that you should always be doing more with your kids, we ask that you stop that thinking right now. It is so easy to look around and compare yourself to other parents and think that you should be doing more. Be realistic with your time, and you know what, kids need down time anyway to be creative, to be bored, to think for themselves, so be okay with allowing them to have some chill time.
* The people you compare yourself to are not perfect, you are not perfect, stop striving for perfection.
** Is there a common aspect of life that you find you are always comparing yourself with others? Maybe travel, nutrition, exercise, leisure time, things, jobs, or money. Do they create good or bad feelings for you? If bad, how can you make them good?
*** Think about what is realistic for you based on your stage in life. We have three main buckets that we focus on when we think about the life that we want: time, health, and money. Which are you focusing on? Are you satisfied with the one that you are focusing on, or should you spread the love?
Dessert Quote:
“Relationships should be prioritized over productivity. There is one aspect of early human history I hope we can reclaim: a celebration of what is most human about us. It is our reflective thought and social connections that make us unique and strong.” - Headlee, 243
Now we want to hear from YOU! Please let us know what you think of today’s newsletter, and send us an example of how you applied the health recipe to your life! We would love to share how you introduced this week’s recipe into your life’s unique menu. Thanks and have a great Sunday!
Sources:
Learn more about slowing down, and comparisons with others:
Headlee, C. (2020). Do nothing: Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing and Underliving. Hachette UK.
