Let Go Of FoMo: How to Really Enjoy Your Vacation

“Let’s mosey,” my husband said.

I tried to decipher whether it was a pleading question or a gentle statement.

It took us about 2 years of marriage to discover the importance of communicating expectations for family activities… especially during the holidays. Now after 8 years, this is still imperative  for our relationship.

Vacation expectations are difficult to manage. My mother was the queen of “quick! quick! quick!” during our family travels. Sleeping in was a cardinal offense. If we were going to get as much out of our family time as possible, we better get going. Granted, without her go-getter mentality, we would have squandered many a trip to Disney world and the Texas gulf coast with excessive napping. The quick quick quick queen gets all the credit for the fantastic memories we all have of the experience. (Thanks mom!)

I think I inherited her crown about the time my twins started walking. I see every vacation as a buffet of opportunities. Things to do, people to see, restaurants to taste, places to explore. I am an adventurer, after all. When we venture off from our small town, my heart and mind are ready to ingest all the possibilities.

Contrast my penchant for doing with my husband’s preference for just being. He has no fear-of-missing-out (FOMO). He is not petrified at the thought of losing someone’s approval. He truly just wants to vacate on vacation (imagine that?). Leave the rushed pace of the regular work-week mentality and simply… mosey.

In order to play along with this mosey-mentality, I had to wrap my head around it first. Whereas I assumed it meant laziness or carelessness, the word mosey literally means “to walk or move in a leisurely manner.” That is actually something I would like more of in my life. The luxury of margin in the schedule, in the budget, in my expectations is often out of reach because I have been busy filling that white space.

So for one week, instead of scraping by and grasping at last minutes and last dollars, I plan to mosey. To open up my heart and hands. To loosen my grip on expectations and fear of missing out. To be bendy.

Here is my vacation agenda. More flexibility to enjoy, less expectations to fit it all in. And with every to-do list I write, I include a to-don’t list. These are the things I give myself permission to say no to.

I hope you can join me for a few days of just being.

“Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord — now and always.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭131

PS. What are you adding or taking away from your vacation list?