Vacation and Primal Instinct

There are certain things you observe living in a vacation destination (yes, I live in one. I swear it happened by accident, albeit a happy one). Wherever I go, I see our visitors jogging, walking and biking. It is so pervasive, and happens so consistently, it is startling. They are serious, you can tell by the clothing they wear while they are doing it (you know, spandex for bikers, sports bras with matching running shorts, running shorts and cutoff t-shirts, etc.). It is so common, I remark when I don't see them. I went for a walk with a friend of mine on Tuesday at the beach at eight-something and the place was crowded with runners, riders and walkers.

I remarked to my friend that I was puzzled as to why all these vacationers wanted to get up and exercise. I mean, were they taking the occasion of a brief vacation to suddenly get serious about wellness and health? He pointed out that part of vacationing involves release from your daily concerns. Once you let go of those, you return to your basic instincts, like survival. Those drive you to start taking better care of yourself. All this work on keeping fit will mean you'll live longer, won't it?

When I pointed out these same people keep hundreds of bars and restaurants going with their eating and drinking, we decided this too was a return to basic instincts—the pursuit of pleasure. That principle emerges in the absence of those pressures of day to day living. I think Freud said it drives almost all of human behavior in its earliest stages. It is the driven force of the id—to seek pleasure and avoid pain. The very young (infants and toddlers) are governed almost entirely by the pleasure principle. Its counterpart is the reality principle, which allows us to defer gratification when obtaining it is not possible. This is the process of maturing. So, vacation might be an attempted escape from reality after all.

After all, Merriam-Webster tells us vacation is a respite from something with recreation, recreation is the refreshment of strength after work, and refreshment is to restore strength and animation to something. All of these add up to acting out our primal instincts—survival and the pursuit of pleasure.

But what about those of us who live here all year round? I guess we have the choice of how to respond—pursuing survival (and longevity?) or simply pleasure (and denial of reality). By extension, who lives in a place where no one vacations? Vacation is not limited to certain places, it's a state of mind, and it can take place most anywhere. So can your response.