My parents never took vacations either. They had a business that consumed their lives 24/7/365. My mother died young and my father withdrew into himself.

When I got married — my husband had paid time off. We camped with our kids and took them to Disney World once. When we moved to NC — we started taking yearly trips to spend a week where the land meets the sea. I was a nurse by then.

Nurses need vacations. We pour ourselves out into our patients and as professional caregivers — there is rampant burnout in this career path. Those vacations were time out of time for me to reconnect with the Humans I loved and to refill my cup.

Yoga & meditation helped in my day to day existence — but nothing beat putting down that heavy burden and not even having to think about it for 10–11 days.

And then there is travel. I am a true Sagittarius and LOVE to travel. I’ve been all over the Caribbean and to Mexico. Also Alaska, Bali, and Australia. Those trips opened my mind and my heart to the rest of the world. Travel does that — shakes up our comfort zone and lets us be brave. And open to how All. The. Humans exist.

For me vacations were priceless gifts. And most of the time — whatever I came back to was worth it. But as a nurse — when things break — like in the OR — Humans can die. That constant responsibility is exactly what we need to take a break from when we go on vacation.

Now that I don’t live in that kind of pressure cooker (I’m retired) things that break are not such a big deal. Perspective changes and one realizes — yes, this can be fixed. Easily. And in fact, when it is fixed a sense of great peace can be felt. The small comforts have been restored.

Thank you so much for responding and for your insights. From this day forward I will refer to any minor disruption to my flow as kipple. I love that!