Since I’ve gotten back from my vacation, I’ve been thinking a lot about why we take vacations in the first place. Of course, there are the obvious reasons, such as a break from routine, seeing new locals and ways of doing things. Then there’s simply not working, which fills up so much of our life these days.

But I think for me, one of the main things that’s really important for me involves, the lack of feeling like I need to be “busy.” The NYTimes had an interesting article about our “busyness” that seems to consume our lives, and how it’s largely a self-created problem. While on vacation, I allow myself the complete freedom not to text people or check my email a relentless number of times a day, lest I miss a nanosecond of something important, but instead all my attention is focused on the task at hand.

The blissful realization that by doing “less” I’m gaining “more” from my experience, is something that I want to incorporate back into the everyday this Summer. I picked up the book “The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern, in the airport right before my night flight back to NYC. Usually people pick up books before their trip, not upon return. But the cover, and the title intrigued me, and made me realize I wanted my everyday NYC life to be more on the magical side!

The book has not disappointed, and neither has the results of the shift in my perspective to not trying to fill every second of the day, and leaving a little more breathing room for my thoughts, and reading a good book! I went to yoga in Prospect Park the other week and it was such a nice shift in perspective. For many Summers I’ve wanted to go, but always been too “busy” and it’s nice to finally take time for the important things.