28 Mar How to Truly Unplug on Vacation
When I suggested to my husband that we leave our laptops at home for our spring break family vacation, he was shaking his head before I even got the words out. Like many people, he’d rather check his inbox daily than face seven days’ worth of irate email on re-entry. I disagree with this philosophy, but I also know a lost cause when I see one. Or marry one.
© cdwheatley
The irony of modern vacationing is this: relaxing takes discipline. The good news is that it gets much easier with practice. Even though it’s counterintuitive, it’s well documented that people who take time to play are more creative and more productive. Busyness has come to be seen as a virtue in our society, but sometimes it’s just a bad habit. As a parent, that’s a life lesson I definitely want to pass on to my kids.
If you’re ready to truly unplug on your ur next trip—or just be a little less connected—here’s how to make that happen.
1. Set boundaries up front
Setting boundaries is key to partially or totally unplugging. Some people allow themselves an hour of work every day. Others decide to work only until their laptops use one full charge. Still others refuse to take conference calls. It doesn’t really matter what your rules are, just that you consistently stick to them. Once you signal to your co-workers that you’re available on vacation, that barrier disappears for the rest of your trip.
2. Consider social media
Decide in advance how you’ll use social media. While it can be fun to upload a photo of your spouse dubiously sampling octopus tacos, it’s a hop, skip, and a jump from checking and responding to your friends’ comments to checking and responding to your own email. If you can’t trust yourself to dabble on Facebook and Instagram, it might be better to set limits there too. I usually allow myself to post and comment for 30 minutes a day, and only at bedtime.
3. Outsmart email
There are four primary ways to keep your email from running your vacation. The first is to set up a very informative autoresponder signaling your lack of availability. Tell people where you are, when you’ll be back, and who to contact in your absence. The second is telling your coworkers that you will only respond to email marked urgent. The third is pausing your email conversations by saving all your replies as drafts, and batch sending them on the eve of your return. Finally, and this is only for the truly disciplined, disable your work email on your phone. Even just reading a work email makes you think about work, and it can be hard to stop once you start.
4. Plan for re-entry
As tempting as it can be to schedule a flight home late Sunday night to maximize your time away, this is not a good practice for aspiring unpluggers. Instead, plan an entire catch-up day at home before you go back to the office. Knowing that you’ve made a re-entry plan will give you tremendous peace of mind while you’re on vacation and allow you to re-learn the forgotten art of relaxing. Just breathe deeply and remind yourself: it can wait
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