Lynne S. Gots, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Vacation Blues, part 2
By Lynne Gots, posted on August 4th, 2011.
In our real lives, we too often go through our days on autopilot, moving from one activity to the next with our minds only half present. On vacation, at least after the initial decompression period, we’re more attuned to the moment because each experience is fresh. We notice everything so much more acutely—the sights, sounds, smells, and flavors of an unfamiliar place.
The good news is that we can create mini-vacations for ourselves in the course of an ordinary day by training ourselves to focus our attention on the details of even the most mundane activities. In this state of “mindfulness”–of full awareness, of being totally present in the moment– everything around us takes on a heightened intensity.
Following my descent from the mountains and vacation bliss, I’ve looked for small opportunities to get my holiday groove back. I read a novel in the middle of the day and ignored my To Do list. I walked across the street from my office and sat on a park bench in the blistering heat, listening to the sounds of children playing in a city pool I hadn’t known existed. I savored an ice cream cone. And I cleaned out my linen closet. More about this last one in the next post.
Posted in Acceptance and Mindfulness |
Vacation Blues
By Lynne Gots, posted on August 3rd, 2011.
Leave it to the social scientists to prove the obvious. According to a headline in the Washington Post, “Surveys find that the vacation glow vanishes once we return to everyday life.”
This is no news to me. Having returned just a few weeks ago from a restorative trip to the high desert of New Mexico, I can affirm that the inner calm I felt in the mountains faded even more quickly than my tan as soon as I returned to sea level. Still, it’s nice to have hard data to validate personal experience.
In separate studies conducted in the Netherlands and in Australia (where—get out your tiny violins– the researcher studied vacationers on the Great Barrier Reef), the academics found that the first few days of a trip can cause aches, pains, and general malaise—symptoms of “leisure sickness”–in work-addicted professionals who can’t relax. After a few days, most people feel much better, and by the end of the vacation, they’re really into the groove.
Then comes the crash. Back to the old routine and in less than a week . . . poof! It’s like the getaway never happened.
I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few weeks contemplating this phenomenon because I want to recapture that vacation state of mind. And I think it’s possible. I’ll tell you how later.
Tags: stress, vacation
Posted in General |
Getting Started
By Lynne Gots, posted on July 28th, 2011.
Getting started is hard. For lots of people, staring at a blank word document, facing an overflowing hall closet in need of organizing, or beginning to look for a new job can induce as much dry-mouthed, heart-pounding, sweaty-palmed panic as free-falling from an airplane.
I’m not immune to such anxiety, which is why it’s taken me a while to build up the steam to write my first blog post. To borrow from the US Magazine column that showcases celebrities engaging in mundane activities like grocery shopping and pumping gas, “Psychologists! They’re just like us!”
People have all sorts of reasons for dragging their feet on a project. And, contrary to popular opinion, “laziness” isn’t usually one of them. More often, it’s perfectionism that inhibits action. If you’ve ever gotten stuck on the first paragraph of a draft because you keep rewriting the first sentence over and over, or if you haven’t even produced a first sentence because you can’t decide where to start, perfectionism may explain your struggles. There’s also a scientific process at work here, called “self-handicapping.” When you procrastinate so long that a looming deadline requires you to cut corners, you can make excuses to yourself for a shoddy performance.
So, in the spirit of practicing what I preach, I’m getting started. I plan to write about matters big and small that relate to psychology and mental health. I have strong opinions, but I’m also a big proponent of evidence-based practice. So I’ll try to back up my viewpoints with facts and data.
I’m getting started. If you’ve been putting off beginning something that’s important to you, I encourage you to get started, too.
Tags: mental health, psychology
Posted in General |
