Everyday Vacation: A Lesson in Being

By Dr. Kami J. Anderson

This July, more Americans than ever are taking to the skies, the roads, and the sea. Summer travel is back in full swing, with folks craving a change of scenery, a chance to slow down, and a little sunshine on their face. For many of us, vacation is the reset button we wait all year to press.

But what if you didn’t have to wait?

What if that sense of peace and possibility wasn’t something you had to leave home to find?

That’s what we’re exploring this month inside WorkWell Live, our wellness learning series for helping professionals who want to work in a way that feels more sustainable and whole. This month, I’ll be guiding a special session on the idea of the “Everyday Vacation,” where we look at how to bring the feeling of vacation into our daily lives. What would it mean to treat wellness not as an event, but as a lifestyle?

Here’s a sneak peek at what I’ll be sharing—and an invitation to see rest and joy with new eyes.

Rethinking the Way We Rest

We often treat vacation like a reward. Once you’ve worked hard enough, long enough, and given more than enough, then you get a break. But when that time finally arrives, it can take days just to downshift. You’re still checking email at the airport. Still trying to “earn” your rest even as you’re supposed to be enjoying it.

That’s why I’ve been leaning into the idea of the Everyday Vacation. A shift from seeing wellness as something occasional to something intentional. A way of living that honors small pauses, sensory joys, and emotional breathers as part of your rhythm.

And yes, I say this as someone who studies language and communication, not psychology. So when Bell, Evans, and Burton asked me to write a chapter about mental health and healing, I’ll be honest—I thought they had the wrong Dr. Anderson.

But I dug deep. I realized that by focusing on four parts of their BREATHE model—Balance, Reflection, Healing, and Empowerment—I’d been breathing in this way since college.

And I discovered something else. My go-to method for refresh and renewal? Travel. Especially traveling alone.

Travel as Transformation

There’s a growing cultural embrace of “mental health trips,” solo stays, and bestie getaways. But there’s a deeper layer to travel that goes beyond letting loose. It’s about finding your rhythm again. Coming home to yourself.

For me, solo travel has always been a sacred reset. After decades of being a professor, a linguist, a mother, and a mentor, it remains the most powerful way I reconnect with my own energy, creativity, and clarity. It’s not about escaping my life. It’s about remembering who I am within it.

Dr. Paul Simeone said it well. He wrote, “Travel, whether in the mind or in the world, expanded as a concept during this period, representing one of the few silver linings in the COVID cloud. We need travel to recharge, find meaning, and cool our fevered brows.”

And he’s not alone. Travel writer Paul Theroux once said, “What draws me into a trip is a leap into the dark. You set out from home and discover a different world, and you discover yourself.”

That’s what I’ve always found to be true. When I’m in a new place with no one else to shape my experience, I am most myself.

The Anticipation Effect

Even the act of planning a trip can lift your spirits. Dr. Kanika Bell, one of the BREATHE co-creators, has long championed the idea that joy is something we can infuse into our daily lives. Her #addjoynow movement encourages us to actively seek what nourishes us.

She reminds us that the anticipation of a trip can sometimes feel even better than the trip itself. It gives us something to look forward to. It opens our minds to new possibilities.

There’s science to back this up. In 2018, Austrian researchers studied a group of middle managers and found that stress levels dropped and overall well-being improved for weeks after a getaway. Another study found that people who took more vacations had lower odds of developing metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that increase your risk for heart disease and stroke.

Traveling not only supports our emotional health. It also supports our bodies.

But here’s the challenge. How do we access this feeling when budgets are tight, workloads are high, and responsibilities feel never-ending?

Creating Your Everyday Vacation

It starts with reclaiming your right to rest.

Inside WorkWell Live, we’ve been discussing what it means to integrate wellness into our daily work—not in huge, sweeping changes, but in meaningful moments. Here are a few ways to start building your own Everyday Vacation:

1. peak Vacation Into Your Day

In my house, we don’t say “I’m resting.” We say, “I’m vacationing.” Even if it’s just ten minutes on the porch with tea or thirty minutes reading something just for fun, it’s our way of honoring the moment.

Language matters. It shapes your reality.

2. Protect Your Joy Like a Passport

Choose one thing this week that brings you joy and build a boundary around it. Don’t let it be optional. Whether it’s a dance break, a solo lunch, or a walk without your phone, treat it like a trip you refuse to cancel.

3. Use the BREATHE Framework

From the model created by Bell, Evans, and Burton, take time to explore:

• Balance – Are your energy inputs and outputs aligned?

• Reflection – Have you paused to notice what you feel, need, and want?

• Healing – What practice or experience helps you feel restored?

• Empowerment – What decision today would honor your own capacity and worth?

• These questions don’t need long journal sessions or therapy appointments. They just need your attention and intention.

4. Plan Something—Anything

Even if you can’t travel far, planning something joyful gives your mind a place to wander and rest. A free museum visit, a solo trip to the farmers market, a day to do nothing but listen to music—these are all acts of wellness.

5. Join a Community That Holds You Accountable to Your Wellness

That’s what we do every other week inside WorkWell Live. It’s not just a Zoom session. It’s a space where helping professionals gather to pause, reflect, and build new patterns for being well. We share tools, ask real questions, and hold space for one another in ways that feel human and healing.

This month, we’re going deeper into these ideas in our Everyday Vacation session, and I would love to see you there.

Your Invitation

You deserve a life you don’t need a vacation from. And you don’t have to figure it out alone.

WorkWell Live is our gift to the givers, a space for the healers and helpers to experience what they often create for others: calm, clarity, and connection.

If you’re curious, this is your moment to join us—at no cost. We’ve made it easy to get started for you and up to 75 members of your team.

Visit this page to learn more and claim your spot. Consider it a small act of vacationing—right in the middle of your day.

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 Dr. Kami (pronounced kah-MEE) Anderson is an interculturalist, scholar, and language advocate. As the Director of Learning Design & Senior Trainer for Presidential Consultants, Dr. Kami specializes in leadership development and diversity programming with a mission to empower learners with practicality and self-assurance.

An internationally acclaimed TEDx speaker, Dr. Kami Anderson conducts workshops and has been extensively published in both English and Spanish. Her experience as a former educator at both the K-12 and college levels informs her deep commitment to mentorship and education.

Watch Dr. Kami speak!