YOU Decide What Makes You Happy!

From time to time, I travel with friends for part of their vacation or mine. One really big observation comes out of this: People are very opinionated about vacations!

Personally, I like beaches. Mostly ocean beaches, but I’ll take a lake beach if the weather is good. And I’ll take a bad beach over a good mountain anytime. Having said that, I’ve gone on vacations in the mountains that others planned, and it was great. You get to choose the attitude you bring with you.

Recently, I made a trip to Perth, Australia, and then on to Melbourne and Fiji. In all stops, my email and social media were filled with people telling me I “have to” do this or go see that.

But my tastes are simple. I don’t want to climb mountains, take a 50K hike, dive in a shark encounter, or go zip-lining in a tropical jungle. There’s nothing wrong with any of these. But I just want to sit on a beach and count the waves. I want to walk the beach. I want to meditate on the beach. And I want to wade into the waves once or twice a day just because I’m at the beach.

Now, I have to admit: I have completely retooled my life and my business so that I go on lots of mini-vacations every year. So I don’t have to wait a year to bust out and do some vacation time. And I don’t have a problem working while on the road.

My current trip is pretty close to ideal. I visited a new city (Perth) and got a lot of beach time. Plus I got to see many surrounding sites. I met up with some “online” friends for beer, and I generally had a great time. But I also had to turn down a lot of invitations to pack in a lot of activities.

Then it was off to Melbourne, my favorite city to visit in Australia. I was only there five days, and got paid to speak two of those days. So it was mostly work with a few great outings. Now I’m in Fiji for a week of total relaxation. For me, that includes a lot of reading, writing, and relaxing. Overall, the trip is almost three weeks, of which two are “serious” work for pay. The rest is a delightful mix that makes me happy.

You might hate my “vacation.” But that’s okay. I might hate your vacation.

Note: ALL of this applies when you’re not on vacation as well. It’s important that you ignore what other people think will make you happy. And, of course, that requires that you know what makes you happy.

I also think that you need to give other people some slack. In most cases, they’re not really saying that “their thing” is the only way to have fun or enjoy some place. Chances are, they were there (or heard about it) and honestly think you will love whatever it is. They’re trying to share their happiness.

I actually had a good example of taking advice on this trip as well. I met someone in the LAX airport. When I said I was headed to Perth, she recommended I go to Rottnest Island and visit the Quokkas. I Googled it . . . and it sounded amazing. So I went.

That was an experience that I will never forget – and might repeat.

The bottom line is: You be you. Do your thing. But be open to others’ ideas. Just don’t be bound by others’ view of what’s fun. You only get one life – make it YOURS.

Comments welcome.