Rest during vacation must be time that we invest in situations that allow our recovery and physical and mental restoration, the strengthening of our body and our mind, to resume, with new impetus and better quality, with new energies, the activities in which we are usually productive and with which we all contribute to the progress and development of our companies, institutions, and society.
Ignoring the importance of vacations and rest can have serious and grave consequences on the development of human life, coexistence, and social progress.
Vacations have become more critical and relevant in a society and world where multiple factors threaten our ability to rest.
Our society, pushed by technological advances, is ever frenzied due to competition and high societal expectations that must be met and fulfilled, which progressively hinders the possibility that we can rest.
Increasingly, our personal lives and social coexistence occur in urban environments and megacities that never sleep. We live in a constantly accelerating world, available 24/7, permanently agitated and stimulated by hyper connection, information overload, and the unchecked expansion of telecommunications.
All this means that “stress” is a pandemic brought on by our growing incapability to respect our human biological rhythms, combined with our consumption of stimulants, inadequate diets, sedentary lifestyles, work and its irregular schedules, and uncomfortable environments, anxiety, depression, etc.
The combination of these and other factors in our society of very high demand, enormous competition, and unstoppable and permanent connectivity, challenges every person’s urgent need for rest that repairs, dignifies, and humanizes us. This is especially true for everyone alive today, in our society and world.
Uncertainty, especially, marks our historical and social moment. We live in a time lacking certainties in our political, economic, labor, and migratory spheres. Vacations and due rest also invite us to introspection, silence, to journey within ourselves and find peace and reconciliation with others and the environment, and to overcome the frustrations with which daily life and its insecurity, hesitations, and suspicions overwhelm us.
I invite you all to experience this season of vacation through a creative and productive pause. May this summer and year be for those who take vacations, a moment of encounter with the best of ourselves and others, to discover certainties and build hope in our present and towards a better personal, family, and social future.
