Stop 'relaxing' - try this instead

If you read this newsletter, I can say with 99.9999% certainty that you have a self-growth mindset. 🌱 You're always learning, setting new goals, and finding ways to make life feel richer. 

Travel naturally feeds self-growth, and it’s no surprise that exploring new places is linked to a longer lifespan 🌍.

Still, for many people, a ‘relaxing’ vacation doesn’t feel very enriching. Nearly 40% of travelers are interested in an active or purpose-driven vacation to improve their health, build positive habits, or have learning baked into the experience.

They're having a moment, especially among health-minded travelers. People who would rather go to a breathing retreat in Mexico than a spa. Attend a mindful birdwatching excursion or do a bread-baking masterclass in Italy. 

The promise is restoration and personal growth, but there's a fine line between rejuvenation and burnout.

When choosing the best vacation, there are a few strategies that could help you make the most of your experience and health.

This week only, we're offering our lowest ticket prices for the Livelong Women's Health Summit: a two-day women’s health gathering featuring Dr. Mindy Goldman, a breast cancer survivorship expert, Dr. Dean Ornish, a researcher on reversing heart disease, and Jane Fonda, a healthy aging advocate and actress. Offer for this incredible event ends Saturday, November 29, at midnight PT.

They "hit the sweet spot between personal growth and productivity culture," according to David Dominguez of Smallpdf in an interview with Forbes.

In an age when AI and human optimization tools dominate the professional and health spaces, more people are embracing craftsmanship. 🪵 Disciplined effort as a meaningful route to lasting fulfillment. 

Longevity travel often focuses on clinical rejuvenation (red light therapy, sauna, and detoxification). Skillcations see personal growth as rejuvenation.

In fact, what makes them unique is that skills are often place-specific. Alex Andreichuk of Altezza Travel tells The Manual that these can only be mastered in ‘that place, with that culture and that environment." 

These are traditional practices that create cultural identity, and they have often been linked to better health.

Constructive rest: Active vacations can be more restorative compared to doing nothing, 🧗 because “If you want to feel renewed, you need to do something different,” emphasizes Dr. Marais Bester in Forbes. Engaging in stimulating activities also takes your mind off stressors.

Mastery experiences: 🎯 Skillcations create what psychologists call mastery experiences, challenging tasks that build confidence and competence. These are linked to a greater sense of well-being, contributing to less stress and illness, and a greater sense of purpose.

Cognitive benefits: Learning new skills, especially through hands-on learning (building competence by doing things, rather than reading), improves problem-solving, memory, focus, and helps prevent or slow cognitive decline, as shown in peer-reviewed studies 🧠.

Physical fitness: 🏄‍♀️ Whether it’s surfing, archeological digs, or even bread-baking, novel skill-based vacations often engage underused muscles that support healthy aging (hello, wrists). Diversifying your daily movements improves strength, balance, and mobility to help you stay agile and independent.

Social connection: Sharing new experiences and vulnerability with others can spark friendships. The strongest predictor of longevity. 🤝 And since learning something new can be stressful, having people around you helps make the process more enjoyable, and progress happens faster!

Life satisfaction: 🌞 How much you enjoy life determines how well you age. Continuing to develop new skills as we get older supports a better quality of life and a healthier future: that means a sharper brain, new opportunities, and a more optimistic outlook on life and aging.

→ Join the Livelong Woman WhatsApp group to connect with like-minded individuals taking control of their health journey.

What actions can you take to support a restorative skillcation versus a depleting one?

🌺 Choose something place-specific. Learning a skill that is tied to the culture and environment (not something you could learn anywhere) can have a more profound impact and make the experience more memorable, according to Ben Martin of hospitality strategy firm HKS, in HuffPost.

🛑 Pick something unrelated to your career (or daily activities). If you choose something with similar stressors and skills that you already use in daily life, the vacation can lose some of its rejuvenating effects. Choose something that feels like play, which is as essential for health as it is for sleep, experts suggest.

🎒 Embrace being a beginner. Trying new things builds resilience to challenges and stressors. Novelty beats perfection when it comes to strengthening the memory-making muscles of your brain, so be willing to choose something you are not good at.

🚫 Avoid toxic productivity. If vacation starts to feel draining, it's not serving its purpose. Watch out for signs of toxic productivity, the guilt of feeling like you haven’t accomplished ‘enough’, or the pressure to make your experience ‘count.’ This can have downstream effects on emotional and physical well-being that percolate across other areas of daily life.

🏡 Bring the skills home: Whether it’s mountain biking or birding, practicing a new skill at home can offer sustained benefits for your heart, brain, and muscles, and it can generally cultivate a more optimistic perspective on aging and quality of life.

We are on the hunt for Ambassadors to work with us on the upcoming Livelong Women’s Health Summit. Interested in becoming an Ambassador or learning more? Send an email to [email protected] to get the conversation started.

The key to skillcations is finding the balance between doing, being present, and expanding your horizons. For lifelong learners, it could open new doors far beyond the trip itself.

We asked, you answered:

Which habit helps YOUR gut the most?

🥇 Fiber is the clear winner! Most abundant in fruits, veggies, whole grains, legumes, and nuts and seeds, fiber feeds healthy bacteria, reduces constipation, lowers inflammation and chronic disease risk, and supports long-term health.