Microvacations are good for your health! Here are four reasons why

top image by Steve Cattanach

blog by Skylar Ryan-Grant

Do you remember being a kid and getting excited for Halloween? Then Thanksgiving? And then those solid two weeks of Winter break that almost definitely included lots of presents and baked goods? Hey, maybe you still do. There’s something to be said for having lots to look forward to. Sometimes, anticipation is half the fun. As busy adults, it’s not always easy to get that same thrill we did as kids. Most of us get a limited amount of paid vacation days per year, and more often than not, they get spent all at once on one of the Big Ones. A summer beach trip. Thanksgiving. Christmas. And then it’s back to the grind. We’ve spent all our fun. Holidays take on new meanings. Our lives change. But the pleasure of an anticipatory thrill never really goes away, no matter how old we are or where we are in our lives. Memories of old vacations and looking forward to future trips gives us that little zing that helps us get through stressful times. The microvacation seeks to harness that zing for maximum joy, benefit, and fun in our daily lives. And throughout the entire year. The concept is this: instead of vacationing just once or twice a year for an extended period, try vacationing multiple times a year for shorter periods, say one to three vacation days combined with the weekend to get the most out of your trip. Seem like a no-brainer? Seem like extra work? Let’s look at the microvacation little deeper. Shorter trips encourage you to stay active and engaged to get the most out of your stay. The microvacation is all about being proactive and taking your adventure into your own hands. With only a few days to stick under your belt, you’ll find yourself biking, hiking, eating, sipping, and seeking more intensely than you would with a solid week to lounge around. That’s going to give you a big over-flow of endorphins and keep you physically active, two major factors in obliterating stress. What’s more, you’ve got to live in the moment to really get into your trip. Forget meditation, with so much new to do, see, and experience in such a short time, you naturally have to be here now. On a microvacation, there’s no choice but to jump in and start flowing. That ready-made mindfulness can flip your usual thought-patterns and bump you out of your daily stressors even more quickly than on a longer, more leisurely vacation could. The key to any good microvacation (and gaining the most out of its physical and mental benefits) is planning. You’ve got to know what you want to make the most out of your stay. For some of us, that’s all part of the fun: anticipating, planning, and researching an upcoming trip can have tons of positive benefits in your daily life–especially if you’ve got plenty of time to plan, or are still coming off the buzz of your last mini-trip. Having something fun to look forward to, and more regularly, is a huge part of microvacationing’s benefit, after all. But not everyone loves planning trips. Some of us will take the anticipation and fun, and none of the extra work, please and thank you. Well, that’s where we come in. Visit Ventura makes planning your microvacation a no-brainer. We’ve got tons of resources: lists of activities, restaurants, breweries, and accommodations. We’ll tell you where you can walk, bike, surf, sip, dine, and play. We even have custom, ready-made itineraries for microvacations as short as one to three days, tailored to a variety of travel styles. Look through our website or stop in at our Visitor’s Center when you get here. We’ll give you everything you need to plan a tight trip, hit the pavement, and start your weekend adventure. With so much awesome to do in Ventura, we promise you’ll already want to spend your next microvacation here, too.