Make Your Vacation Longer With Basic Cognitive Psychology
If you’ve ever had a weeklong vacation that only lasted a couple of days, it’s probably because you’ve planned too much and not lived the moment well enough.
If you want your vacation to last longer, you need to focus on the quality of the memories, not the quantity. Psychologist Mark Wittmann, author of Feeling Time: The Psychology of Time Perception , calls this the “classic holiday effect”:
Any interval seems to be longer if you have more memories stored. If you are experiencing more memorable events, then time drags on. If you are completely out of touch with what is happening, you will not keep them. Emotions are the glue to your memory.
To get more quality memories, Wittmann suggests that you avoid over-planning your trip so that you have to stay more in the moment. Wittmann says planning speeds up the passage of time because you are always thinking about the future. You are not focused on what is happening now, because all your mental energy is focused on what will happen next. So plan your next vacation, but leave enough wiggle room to stay attached to the present. You can find some more great vacation extension tips at the link below.
Cognitive Psychology’s Simple Ways to Extend Summer Vacation | Quartz via Science of Us