Want to stay up-to-date with Arthur’s latest column? Sign up for our newsletter to receive an email each time a new one is published. Looking for a unique and fulfilling vacation experience this year? There are several models to choose from. For instance, there’s the Instagram Adventure model, where you travel to an exotic location, make the most of every day, take countless pictures, and share your experiences on social media to show that you’re just as active during leisure time as you are at work. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s the Couch Potato model, where you spend the entire two weeks doing very little. Other popular options include spending two weeks in your childhood bedroom (for those in their 20s), or splurging on a trip to Disney because your kids have nagged you all year (for those in their 30s).
However, one vacation model that dates back to ancient times is often overlooked. The Greek word for “leisure” is “skhole,” which is where we get the word “school” from. This suggests that education is a form of recreation, although hardworking students might find this concept counterintuitive. Philosopher Josef Pieper believed that leisure is the ideal circumstance for learning and personal growth, if utilized properly.
If conventional vacation models aren’t appealing to you, Pieper’s insight might offer the fulfilling holiday experience you’ve been searching for. Consider using your time off as an opportunity to learn something new and exciting.
While people have different objectives for their vacations, almost everyone is seeking higher levels of positive emotions. The aim is to be happier than usual, which is why a disappointing vacation can be so frustrating – it feels like a missed opportunity to relax and make emotional progress.
To make the most of your vacation and experience greater contentment, it’s important to understand basic human emotions. Negative emotions like anger, sadness, fear, and disgust are meant to alert us to threats and trigger fight or flight responses to keep us safe. Obviously, these are not the emotions we want to experience on vacation – although all bets are off if a long car ride with kids is involved.
On the other hand, we seek an abundance of positive emotions like joy, surprise, anticipation, and especially interest – the feeling of curiosity and fascination that captures our attention. Interest is favored by evolution as it comes from learning new things, which rewarded our ancestors with more food and higher chances of survival and reproduction. The same satisfaction our ancestors felt after coming up with a new way to catch an animal persists in us today when we learn to ride a bike or succeed in making a soufflé.
The well-being gained from learning is not as immediate as doing something enjoyable like eating a donut. In fact, there is a sacrifice involved. Researchers discovered in 2011 that investing in an activity to improve our competence can temporarily lower our happiness in the moment but ultimately boost our well-being over longer periods of time. This makes sense when you think about it – you may struggle to learn calculus, but the knowledge you gain offers long-term satisfaction. Learning is similar to exercise in this way – it can be challenging and even painful in the moment, but the rewards are worth it.
To maximize satisfaction through learning, intrinsic motivation is key – learning for the sake of learning. Neuroscientists found in 2014 that curiosity triggers high brain activity in regions like the midbrain and nucleus accumbens, which are associated with the release of dopamine. In other words, satisfying your curiosity through learning about something you’re genuinely interested in produces a neurochemical reward.
Is learning the same as education, though? It might be tempting to assume that if everyone went to college, society would be happier. However, a study from 2017 suggests that the impact of higher education on happiness depends on various factors, including where you live. In countries with low education levels, which are often developing nations, attending university is linked to higher happiness. In highly educated countries with competitive labor markets, however, the effects are reversed – university attendance is associated with lower happiness. One possible explanation is that in the former group, university education offers an escape from poverty, while in the latter group, the benefits of education have already been depleted. Additionally, there could be something about the college experience in developed countries that contributes to lower well-being. In any case, the leisurely learning the Greeks had in mind is not equivalent to the modern American college experience.
Based on this research, the key to having a great vacation is to find something you’re genuinely interested in and focus on it intensively. The task or skill should be challenging enough to improve your competence, and the satisfaction should be measured over hours and days, rather than in the moment.
There are various ways to achieve this outcome, whether through casual and inexpensive means or more formal and costly options. On the casual end of the spectrum, you could create your own reading curriculum and carefully read four books on a specific topic over the course of two weeks. Alternatively, you could read an entire religious text like the Bible or Quran while listening to music related to the subject matter. For a more formal approach, you could dedicate your vacation to taking a class or enrolling in a free online course about a topic that interests you. If you want a more intensive and expensive experience, you could hire a teacher to help you learn a new instrument or language, or even hire a nutrition and fitness coach. The progress you can make in just two weeks can be surprising.
At the most rigorous level, you might choose to spend your vacation on a guided silent retreat in a spiritual tradition of your choice. Alternatively, you could embark on a pilgrimage, immersing yourself in contemplation and wisdom literature during rest periods.
In Plato’s Republic, there’s a famous passage where he advises on how to educate children in a way that brings out their best. He suggests allowing them to enjoy recreation in a constructive way instead of forcing them to study, as this is more likely to stimulate rebellion. Similarly, the best model for a vacation involves turning your leisure time into an opportunity for learning. Rather than feeling obligated to relax and have fun, adopt a Platonic strategy and focus on learning something new. You might just have the best holiday of your life.
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