Are Holidays and Rest Actually the Same Thing?

Have you ever found yourself saying, “I need a holiday” when in fact what you mean is “I need a rest”?

Returning home from a recent holiday, I found myself and other families I'd been away with saying, "I need another holiday."

I was looking forward to returning home, where I imagined I could finally relax. Whilst I had thoroughly enjoyed the holiday, I also felt exhausted by it and, if I'm honest, a sense of relief that it was over.

I had looked forward to the holiday expecting to feel rested, yet my experience of the week had been anything but restful. It was busy, filled with activities, meals out, constant social interaction and the ongoing navigation of group life, all of which required energy.

It left me wondering what we mean when we talk about a holiday.  We often assume we're all talking about the same thing, the same experience, but perhaps we're not.  A holiday can mean completely different things to different people.  I automatically associate a holiday with rest, so returning home exhausted somehow felt like I’d not got everything I’d wanted from it.

Yet for one person, a holiday may mean adventure, activity, exploration and making memories. For another, it may mean slowing down, recovering, solitude and space. For a child, it may mean excitement, stimulation and doing things they can't do at home.

All of these are valid.  There is no one right or wrong way to holiday.  But a holiday is not necessarily restful.

The difficulty is that one holiday cannot always meet everybody's needs at the same time.  A holiday that feels wonderful for someone seeking activity and connection may feel far less restorative for someone whose deeper need is rest and solitude. And when holidaying as a family, adults often find themselves balancing their own needs alongside those of their children, leaving little space for the kind of rest they may have imagined.

The more I reflected on my own experience, the more I realised that enjoyment and rest are not necessarily the same thing.

I enjoyed the holiday. I enjoyed the people, the activities and the memories we created together. Yet I returned home feeling exhausted.

Perhaps that's because a holiday is simply time away from our usual lives.

Rest is something different.

Rest is the feeling of having space to recover.

And maybe that's why, after a week filled with activity, conversation and making memories, so many of us found ourselves saying:

"I need another holiday."

Yet the more I reflected on it, the more I wondered whether what we were really saying was:

"I need a rest."