When you’re taking a vacation, it’s important to focus on…well, relaxing! A lot of times, we can get caught up with updating our family and friends about our trip, whether it’s on social media or via texts and emails. Not to mention, a lot of people end up checking sneaky work emails, sometimes just out of curiosity. There’s an app that can help you actually enjoy your vacation.
Fabulous, a routine building app that takes a data-backed approach to help set and reach goals, wants to help you with your vacation as well. The app takes a gamification approach to form habits and routines using small tasks. Their methods include prompts to help with plan making, emphasizing the importance of starting small and positive reinforcements.
Sami Hassine, CEO and co-founder of Fabulous shared with Travel + Leisure: “Anyone can take a break. But few realize one can take a vacation that brings enjoyment in the moment and rejuvenates you for your return. It’s more fun to be productive when you get back to work than suffer a vacation hangover. Using the Fabulous app in this way is an investment not just in work-life balance, but work-life joy.”
Hassine continued: “Remembering the basics on break will maximize positive experiences. Little things like remembering to hydrate will lessen headaches from different weather. Nightly coaching can bring better sleep – especially when one’s circadian rhythms are disrupted.”
The app’s behavioral economist, Jazmin Quill, shared some tips on how to best use the app to help you. According to Quill: “Sleep is one of those things that can be thrown off very easily while traveling, whether it’s to another time zone or even local. You want to take advantage of every minute on vacation.”
She also emphasized the importance of having a nightly ritual that will help with having a “sense of wind down and normalcy. It can make shifting from activity to rest easy, and bring a familiar and content feeling in unfamiliar places.”
It’s also important to stay present while you’re away, so you can really make the most of your time off. Quill said: “No matter where we go, we have a tendency to bring the stress of work or the sense of needing to stay connected via phone or through social media. Being present is one of the most important things you can do mentally and one of the most difficult!”
Fabulous has a “disconnect and unplug” feature that will help you focus on your trip instead of social media.
Most importantly, vacation is supposed to help you de-stress. According to Quill: “Stress can have a number of negative impacts on not only your mind but also your body.Fabulous champions meditation and what better place to do that than on a beach or hike or vacation period!”
She continued: “When you are away from home and on vacation, a space opens up to tune into how you feel. The catalog ranges from habit formation, to what transformation feels like, and beyond.” she said. “Perhaps the most vital thing one can give themselves in their time away is the self-compassion that Fabulous reminds you to absorb. This alone can make an extraordinary shift in one’s psyche and create a real path to a life well-lived.”