Why Vacations Are the True Beginning of the Year

You have been immersed in the inertia of daily life for months. Meetings, tight schedules, unavoidable commitments, and that constant "I have to" set the pace of a "normal" year.

When vacation finally approaches, primary instinct opts for something resembling this plan: turn off the brain, disconnect completely, and let oneself be carried away by the absence of responsibilities.

And that is fine; the body needs a truce. But isn't this approach falling a bit short?

First, because that dreamed-of vacation is probably little more than a mirage. Even before reaching the resort, peace is compromised: a disagreement, forgetting something important, or the very lack of routine causes a trace of nerves and tension to surface.

Whether due to the children (bless them!), or the tension, in the dreamed-of silence, unexpected noises always appear.

But even if that golden eden of absolute calm were possible, wouldn't such an idyllic vision still fall halfway short? What are we leaving behind when we try to escape from daily life?

Since ancient times, great thinkers have understood that free time is not a vacuum to be filled with superficial distractions. It was a time that one should dedicate to something more. The Greeks called it skholé (from which our word "school" derives): a time dedicated to oneself, to cultivating the inner self, to reflection.

Vacations are the perfect setting to stop the wheel and ask ourselves that question that, during the year, daily life does not allow us to hear: why do I do what I do?

We think that disconnecting means escaping, and in doing so we lose a unique opportunity to bring order to our inner house. Transformation occurs when we use that pause to reconnect. To stop for at least a few days a year, giving ourselves the luxury of gaining some perspective regarding daily obligations.

It is in the silence of a summer morning, in front of the sea or in the mountains, where we recover an essential virtue for anyone: inner order.

And so, in the midst of contemplation, these two months that we are beginning to conclude (if we listen to the pessimists) teach us a most valuable lesson: Vacations are the ideal time to start new things precisely because our minds are free from the urgency and stress of the daily rhythm.

Take note.

It is not about overloading ourselves with stressful new projects, but about daring to go a bit further, to explore that which sparks our curiosity but which we always postpone for lack of time. All great journeys begin with a call; not with a plan, nor with an agenda full of points to address, but with a question that is slightly uncomfortable.

In every epic story, as Joseph Campbell intuited with his famous "Hero's Journey," the protagonist must leave their ordinary world behind to venture into the unknown. And allow me the analogy: the working year is our ordinary world and vacations are the threshold to a potential adventure that changes everything.

Crossing it means seizing this time for personal reflection: understanding who you are today, letting go of the labels of what you should be, and rediscovering what truly moves you.

If this September you want to return with even more strength, the key lies not just in sleeping more hours, but in reordering your priorities and cultivating your mind.

(Bear in mind that, furthermore, "sleeping more hours" is increasingly complicated due to the temperatures).

This is the perfect moment to learn to think anew, questioning your certainties and approaching readings of philosophy or history that challenge you intellectually to understand where you come from. It is also the time to seek meaning and not just results, observing nature and reconnecting with the wonder that children show these weeks on all the coasts and mountains of our country.

After all, where do creativity and renewed energy originate? Where to draw the strength to embark on new paths in autumn? Motivation probably does not stem from a spreadsheet, but from a mind capable of contemplating. And of marveling in contemplation.

And to achieve this, you do not need radical changes in your routines; small habits that, step by step, deeply impact your ordinary life are enough.

Because thinking is a way of living, and life, as we know, comes without an instruction manual. But it does have its seasons and its cycles. And summer, probably, is the best time to reconnect with the curious child who wanted to know everything.

Doesn't it make sense to take advantage of these (few) remaining weeks and consider how to approach the new term in a new way?

You will have heard it from a thousand gurus of inner change: "When September arrives and the world speeds up again, you will not be the same person if you do X, Y, or Z."

And it is true: they inspire a bit of laziness. With a glass of wine in hand, feet in the water, and the breeze on your face, the last thing one wants to hear is a lecture on "how to be your best version."

Because I do not know if this is "my best version," which it probably is not; but goodness, the truth is that I like it quite a bit.

But one thing does not preclude the other. Enjoying the summer is good, deeply human. Essential, even. But one can also enjoy this break by putting the thinking machine to work.

Because you already know that vacations, like everything in life, have an end.

If you have seized the pause to nourish your inner world, the return will perhaps hurt a bit less.

Perhaps, who knows, September will be the opportunity to apply what has been learned, to lead with integrity, and to bring a renewed sense of meaning to your surroundings.

Because fully charged batteries have a tendency to be shared with others. To breathe new life where that of others is lacking.

And the energy you accumulate now, if accompanied by purpose, will be the best engine for a new year of adventures.