Beat the Blue Monday Blues!

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I’m sure that you all know that today is “Blue Monday”, the one day of the year that is known as the saddest day of the year. The winter blahs have set in after the fun of Christmas, the winter weather is dragging us down and those New Year’s resolutions…well, sometimes they just have fallen to the wayside by today.

A recent survey conducted by Leger on behalf of Sunwing Vacations shows something that I personally have known all along ; planning a vacation is one of the best ways to cheer yourself up. I’ve even seen it on Facebook recently; I’ve had no less than three friends posting asking where they should head next. We all know that actual vacations alleviate stress and depression, but there is just as much joy to be had in the planning.

This is something that I’ve known for years, in fact my dad has often talked about the fun in planning, researching and enjoying the anticipation of a trip – also known as #SunwingMode. I’m pretty sure that this is why as soon as I’m off my last cruise, you can find me figuring out when we are taking our next one!

Apparently the term for this is the “holiday halo” and it was interesting to see the results of the survey.  I am such a vacation planner and it’s good to see that I’m not alone!

• Apparently 95 percent of Canadians say that even just knowing that they have a vacation coming up brings them joy.
• Around half of all Canadians spend more than 20 hours planning their vacation before it happens – around half a work week!- though I can say that I am on the heavy end of those 20 hours.
• The closer you get to your vacation, the happier you get.
• Three quarters of Canadians agree that they are more motivated when they know that they have a vacation coming up and a quarter of Canadians say that their vacation mindset starts as soon as they book the trip.
• Half of vacationers admit that they are thinking about their next trip as soon as they are done their last

Reading this made me feel normal, you guys, as everything in this travel survey is exactly how I am about planning my trips. There is nothing I love better than travelling (you guys know that already!) but second to it, I love the planning. As Canadians we have to make sure that we take time for ourselves during these miserable winter months. Let’s face it, winter is a long, dreary haul for us in the Northern Hemisphere.

We just got back from a five-week vacation, road-tripping all the way down to Florida, then taking a Caribbean Cruise for a week with my entire family. Planning that vacation with my sister was half of the excitement. Choosing three cabins on the ship for all of us. Figuring out where we were going on the shore days. It was so much fun to plan and in all the hard months of cookbook work this fall, knowing that I had this amazing vacation kept me happy and sane! Well, happy at least. 😉

I’m already planning on our next trips, because the saying is entirely true; if I’m not on vacation, I’m planning one. Even if it’s a year out, I love the process of vacation planning.

So, are you the same? Does planning a vacation bring you happiness before you are even on your trip?

Let’s survive this Blue Monday together, if you could go anywhere right now, where would it be? I’d head back to Megan’s Beach on St. Thomas. It was one of the most amazing beaches I’ve ever been on and has been listed as one of the Top Ten Most Beautiful Beaches in the World. It was amazing

Happy planning and dreaming!

Love,

Karlynn

 

Although this post was sponsored by Sunwing Vacations, all of the thoughts and opinions are, as always, my own!