It’s Not Just About a Happy Holiday
A message from Jin Sasaki, President, Coast Hotels
Over the past, nearly, two years, we’ve seen our everyday lives change in ways big and small. We’ve experienced lock downs, border closures, mask protocols and more. When we have had opportunities for escape and freedom, they’ve been welcome and appreciated. Sometimes, they’ve come with really big expectations. We’ve had a lot of time to create dream scenarios in our minds… that can be hard for reality to live up to.
Over the past year I’ve become acquainted with the work of Johnathan Fields, through his podcast, The Goodlife Project. If you haven’t listened to his podcast, it might be worth checking out. One central concept that Fields shares is that, “happiness is a snapshot, meaning is a the movie”. So how do we approach travel, knowing that there will be an underlying story of meaning peppered with moments of happiness? Here are a few tools that may be helpful in aligning travel expectations and reality.
Journal
Yes, journaling is very in vogue, and for good reason. Journaling allows us to gather and document our thoughts. As much as journaling is valuable in the moment, it is also great to look back upon. When we travel, we generally capture photos and videos – of smiles, amazing sunrises and sunsets, terrific views, amazing landmarks. We don’t tend to capture moments when we skipped naptime and our child melted down in a restaurant, or Google Maps led us astray and, frustrated, we had a fight. Looking back on some of these things, though, we can learn, grow and even see the humour that was so absent in the moment. Journaling helps us document the underlying story.
Jointly Align on Intention
An element often present within journaling is setting intention. When we travel with others, we may have different intentions. Travel can enrich our lives and widen our view. Sharing intentions, and even aligning on intentions can be super helpful in ensuring that everyone gets to experience snapshots of happiness. Talking about intention during the planning stage can be hugely beneficial. If Mom wants to be able to put her feet up, but Dad wants to book a unit with a full kitchen to save on meal costs, then intentions may not be aligned. Finding balance by sharing our core intentions puts us on a valuable path.
Capture the Snapshots
Whether you capture them in your memory or on your iPhone, when those special moments of fun, elation and contentment arise, document them. Yes, these are gold and to be appreciated. While happy moments don’t make for a happy life, gratitude and appreciation do help support happiness.
Appreciate Imperfect
It’s going to happen, even with great planning and aligned intentions: you’ll run into someone who is having a bad day, technology will fail, weather will be uncooperative. From time to time we just need to be able to shrug it off, feel a bit of empathy for the person who’s wearing their unhappiness on the outside, or break out our umbrella and dance in the rain. Sometimes these imperfect moments turn into moments of personal pride and even the most unexpected happy moments.
In the 2014 movie, Chef, staring Jon Favreau and Emjay Anthony (with an all-start cast), Emjay (Percy) captures 1 second of video each day and creates a video of his time with his Dad (Jon Favreau as Chef Carl Casper) restoring and taking a food truck on the road. It’s such a great example of snapshots of happiness and a movie of meaning that is created between the father and son. As we continue to pine for a return to travel in 2022, let’s do that with grounded expectations of what our well-deserved trips will entail, and embrace all the meaningful moments.