As adults, life can be chaotic and it’s important for everyone to take a solo trip once a year, especially dads. As the strong man of the household, a lot of times dads get stuck doing the not so fun work. Between the job, kids, home repairs, yard work and killing spiders, dads, a lot like moms, seldom get a day off.
Taking a break from life’s many stressful requirements is sometimes needed in order to refocus and recharge your batteries properly. For physical, mental or spiritual health it’s important to occasionally spend time alone, just focusing on yourself and restoring your sense of personal balance.
With all the distractions that we have going on in our lives, we often forget to take a break from it all. to serve as a reminder, here are a few reasons that you fathers out there should take a solo trip at least once a year. We already advocate for moms to take a solo trip at least once in a while, we think Dads should a well. You just might be surprised at how much you needed it and even have tips for helping you plan the perfect solo trip. So here are the main reasons why you should take a solo trip sooner than later:
1. Release Stress
There are a lot of different jobs that have moments of high stress. Sometimes it has to do with holiday sales, or perhaps something more life and death like a surgeon. Maybe it’s getting the house ready for a party or preparing for a work presentation but a little stress can serve as a great motivator.
However, extreme amounts or stressing too often can have some negative effects on your overall health. You will find yourself as a much happier person after taking some time off for yourself and sanity.
It’s been proven that stress can physically affect your body and mind. From depression to eating disorders, stress is a root cause for many ailments.
2. Relax
In life, there are a number of jobs and tasks that are demanding of us. Maybe you always seem to have a never-ending list of things to do and never enough time to sit down for a minute and relax.
Sometimes even when we are supposed to be relaxing, we find ourselves preoccupied with other thoughts some much that we can’t relax. This is a true sign that you need to take some time for yourself. Sometimes you need to take a trip, sit back, and do nothing in order to allow your body to recharge.
3. Take A Break
When it’s day after day of work, after a while, we all need a small break of some sort. Time to take off from constantly working at your job and home. The longer you go without taking a break, the more used to not taking a break you’ll become.
Over time you might just completely forget about the idea of taking a break, and if you took one you wouldn’t know what to do. This is not a good thing nor is it healthy.
4. Reconnect
When you are alone and by yourself, your mind changes its focus of thoughts. You’re no longer focusing on project deadlines or deals you’re working and trying to close. This is the time when you can just focus on yourself and your own personal well-being.
We often get caught up, playing these roles to maintain our daily lives. And in doing so, we often are giving up something of ourselves. Sometimes you can lose yourself or your dreams in the process of trying to maintain these roles. And yes, there are numerous benefits to traveling with your family but there’s also a huge benefit of reconnecting with yourself, by yourself.
It’s vitally important for everyone, especially men, to take time for themselves to do a self-wellness check. This is the time where we ask ourselves the questions like, am I happy or are there areas in my life or relationships that I should be addressing? The more you understand about yourself, the better you will be at navigating life situations at home and work.
5. Feel Alive
Sometimes in life, you just need to let it all hang loose. If that means packing a bag and hitting up Vegas, then go out there and let it roll. Sometimes we just need to feel free to do as we please without a judgmental or disappointing look from a friend, spouse or child.
Now, I’m not suggesting that bad decisions should be made, I’m just implying that you should let your inhibitions be free once in a while. Work hard, play hard has remained a popular motto for a reason.
6. Family Needs A Break
It’s been said before that distance makes the heart grow fonder. Sometimes we can end up taking advantage of the ones we love. Unintentionally, this can happen over time. Often, the best way to appreciate something is to take it away. All of the different jobs that you do and the roles that you play have an impact on other people’s lives. Sometimes it’s a good thing, sometimes maybe not so.
By giving the family a break, it helps everyone to appreciate everything that’s brought to the table. It’s hard to miss what doesn’t leave or isn’t missing. We tend to feel more appreciation for others when they’re not around as often and we start analyzing their impact on our lives.
7. Maintain Friendships
We all have that friend or friends who we’ve known for a good number of years. The problem is they live too far or your schedules never coincide. Choosing a single or rotating yearly location to all meet is a great way to continue to maintain and grow your friendships. When you are constantly in work mode, nothing quite takes you out of it better than hanging and relaxing with friends.
Maintaining and having these outside family friendships and relationships helps us to give us guidance and good perspective. It’s to your best friend who you vent and tell your secrets to. Your relationship with them allows you to open up and express things to someone less connected than family, yet still has a more understanding perspective.
8. Pursue A Passion
Before we found ourselves lost on the maze of adulting, relationships, and responsibilities, we had hobbies or passions of our own that we dedicated our time to. As responsibility increased, the amount of time that we had to do the things we enjoyed the most decreased for some of us.
Finding the time to do the activities that we love shouldn’t feel like a burden or be extremely difficult. If your passion is camping, mountain biking, fishing or whatever, you should be making and taking the time to pursue what you enjoy most once a year at the minimum. Doing things that you enjoy in life is crucial to maintaining a positive outlook and attitude.
9. Build A Relationship
Bonding with your child on a trip is a very special thing. No matter you and your son or daughter, going on a one on one solo trip together can be one of the best trips for you both. The experience is ripe for the chance of better understanding each other and creating some great memories that are truly special because only the two of you share them.
These trips are good ways to get more in touch with what is going on with each other in a carefree environment. Candid talks can happen in an open and inviting environment as you both engage in activities that you both enjoy.
10. For Health
For most people, there comes a point in our lives where we start thinking a bit more about our health. It’s always better soon than later to embrace a healthy lifestyle, however, that’s not always what we believe until it affects us. Taking yourself out of the daily routine for some time to focus on your body and health can go a long way in the long run.
Taking time to do a body cleanse, detox or going to a health retreat is a great way to recharge your batteries and rejuvenate the body. A yearly cleansing of the body can perform miracles to improve your energy, stress and tension levels.
11. Try New Things
Traveling helps us all to see the world differently and that can lead to expanding our minds and our souls. Trying new things in unfamiliar places enriches our lives by offering an experience to create impactful, lifelong memories. Sometimes these types of events can really be life-changing to the way you do a certain thing or think a certain way.
These types of moments tend to lead us to discover new ways of thinking which can help in our lives at home or work. Having something new to learn every year can be a lot of fun. Especially when you are learning about something you have a strong interest in.
Final Thoughts
The notion and idea of fathers actually taking solo vacation trips is not as strange as it may have once seemed. Quite often we hear of women venturing off to attend all women retreats or something similar by themselves or with their girlfriends. Seldom do we hear of dads taking time off to attend health retreats.
We all can understand the occasional need for a break from the day to day grind. We spend the majority of our time working either for an employer or for the family. Sometimes they’re both. The importance of taking off time for yourself, especially men, can be more rewarding than you might think. The only way to know for sure is to try for yourself. Take the time for yourself that nobody else is willing to give you. After all, if you don’t take good care of yourself, who else will. And maybe, just like we advocate for mom to take an all-girls trip, your next trip might be one with the boys! Just be sure to plan it right with the best travel apps, visit a safe country, and reconnect with yourself.
