The People, Process, & Progress Podcast - Five Benefits of Family Time Off | S4 Ep20

Episode Date: March 18, 2025

Welcome back to People, Process, Progress podcast. Today, on Five Benefits of Family Time Off, I'm diving into something I believe is essential for well-being and something that often gets pushed down the priority list amidst our busy schedules: family vacations.The benefits:Stress reductionFamily bonding and connectionEnhanced problem-solving skillsPositive impact on physical healthCreating memories togetherGodspeed.

Hey everybody, thanks for coming back to the people process progress podcast. I am your host Kevin Pinnel This is season 4 episode 20 5 benefits of family time off. I haven't put out an episode for a while I've been busy at work, but mostly I was out of the country in Cancun with my family. It was awesome So today I'm gonna dive into something that's truly essential family vacations. There's so many benefits, right? So grab your coffee tea. It's the afternoon where I am So I'm not gonna drink any more coffee. But let's talk about five compelling reasons why a family vacation isn't a luxury,

but a vital investment in your health and happiness. First, let's lay down those ground rules. Please silence your cell phones, hold all sidebar conversations to a minimum, and let's get started with the People Process Progress podcast. Three, two, one. Let's get started with the People Process Progress podcast.

Hey everybody, thanks for sticking with the show. Again, you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram or X and Instagram at KevinPanel74. On both of those platforms, you can also visit the PeopleProcessProgress.com website to get more scoop on these episodes and follow me on YouTube on Penelphi Fitness Club where I share fitness 15 seconds at a time. It's a cold plunge and jujitsu after action report.

So let's jump into these five benefits of family time. Again, I just came back this past week from Cancun with my family, my wife and three sons. Very cool trip. The first thing for me that I found was stress reduction. Now, planning for these vacations can be stressful, saving the money for it, watching your pennies, all that kind of stuff, depending on where you go, that's stressful, but the break itself, the visit itself,

I think should be relaxing and help lower some stress hormones. So how does it do that? So we get to escape from our routine, right, from get up, exercise, hopefully you're doing that in the morning or at some point during the day, going to work, going to school, chores. Well, we don't have to do that when we're somewhere else

and we've paid for somebody else to do that, at least the chores, right? It can lower cortisol levels. There's studies that don't have all the science of it. But when we take breaks from our stressful life, it reduces our stress, which cortisol plays a big part at. It's a mental reset, right?

Maybe we were bogged down by some work or school before we left or something We were dealing with the folks around us and now we get to go away to some faraway place or even just down the road And we can reset with that right and we increase relaxation. I don't have to worry about Clean it up after myself. We went to an all-expense, all-inclusive resort, which I'd never done before, which is worth it, very cool. We also went out in the Cancun area and saw some Mayan ruins and other stuff, and it was just really cool to be there.

Plus, we left a really gray and cold place in Southwest Virginia and went to a really warm and beautiful beach place. So that's just really good for you. Sunlight's good for you, being outside's good for you. So to me, the first thing, the first of the five benefits of family time off is stress reduction. The second is your boost family bonding and connection.

Now also, you could argue a lot and I actually made a promise when my wife and I to each other to not argue this or at least not have kind of a big blow up, right? So under interrupted time together, it can create shared experience, right? Strengthen bonds, sometimes it can create shared experience, strength and bonds, sometimes it can mess them up. But typically, if we're in a good mind space,

it's dedicated quality time with our people, on the way there, while we're there, on the way home. It's a shared experience we can talk about, who liked what the best. I love talking to my family about, well, what was your favorite part of the trip? What was the favorite food? And these are all conversations we have,

and I would encourage you to have. It also improves communication. So when we all have to get somewhere at the same time for an excursion or, hey, we're all gonna go to the pool. No, we're gonna go to this place to eat or that place to eat. You gotta communicate well, you should. It also makes our relationship stronger.

Our family's all there together. The five of us, the Panell Five, we're all there together, right? And moving together and eating together and doing all that and we got to see different sides of each other. Like we see each other a lot now, but when you're away from your home and you're kind of under the care of others

and you're in another environment, you get to see people explore, what are you comfortable with and what are you not comfortable with and just a really good thing. So again, the first of these five Benefits of family time off is stress reduction. The second is boost in family bonding and connection Then the third is is enhancing creativity and problem-solving skills and I found this so I have three sons

two were teenagers one is almost a teenager and We let them do things we let them climb up on some rocks and jump into the cenote Which is kind of like a cave swimming area with clear water. We let them climb up on some rocks and jump into the cenote, which is kind of like a cave swimming area with clear water. We let them jump up on the man-made, jump into the pool and go to a foam pool part. Like it was really cool. So we let them figure out how to stay with each other. That's the mandate though, right?

You stay with each other. No one comes and leaves alone. You don't wander off. So all these kinds of things, but they have to figure that out. We didn't hover over them. So there's some novelty and stimulation with this, right? The new environment, they were with half a pool

full of people dancing around while they shot foam cannons in there, and them as brothers did it, and it was awesome. It's a break for your brain, right, of they're not going to school every day and having to study these things and do their homework and classwork. My wife and I aren't either in our home office

or on a call trying to figure out this project or that thing. And it's a very fresh and innovative. So I switch into, okay, let me map ahead where we're gonna go, but it's for our enjoyment to go see the beach or go see these ruins. We can be inspired, right? When you see beautiful places like,

we went to an island called Isla Mujeres, which is just off the northeast coast of Cancun and you go to Punta Sur which is the south point and you see the Caribbean Ocean and it's just amazing how the water comes in you can see the tide pools and it just really triggers inspiration to be in that environment and think of other things and it gives you some cognitive flexibility right so we have to adapt to situations it's hotter there we have to, right? So we have to adapt to situations. It's hotter there, we have to drink the water, or we have to drink more water, hydrate,

maybe not go so, you know, stay up so late. Just all these things to make sure that we have enough energy to enjoy the experience, to problem solve, what food do we wanna have tonight, what reservations do we need to make, and these are all, you know, first world problems, but there are many vacations that you don't have to pay for an all inclusive thing.

You can drive and go camp in a park. You can just get away at a park for a little bit. It's just worth it taking that time. The fourth thing for me is the positive impact on physical health. We were so active and I encourage you, when you go on vacation, see what's out there, right? Don't go to a place that's real dangerous

and you can't go out there. go to a place that's real dangerous and you can't go out there. Go to a place that's relatively safe. I mean, America's got places that are just as unsafe as places around the country and the world. And folks ask me, oh, you're going to Mexico? No, nobody talked politics. Nobody asked me about any policies or tariffs. It was people trying to provide a service

and us trying to enjoy ourselves and that's it. And that was great. But we walked and swam and rode and jumped and I hit my step count and blasted through my calorie burn on my Apple watch every single day a lot and I didn't even exercise but once on purpose because I knew it would be so active. It helps with our lower stress and that more sunshine where we went, better immune system, right? Cardiovascular health because we're more active,

we ate pretty good, which was nice. And just overall well-being, right? Mind, body, and soul appreciating, you know, the relaxation we got in our mind, the movement we got with our body, the sun we soaked in, the swimming we did, and then appreciating, for me, what God made that's so beautiful

and the time I got to spend with my family. And part of the discussion I had with my kids is we get to fly on a plane to another country in a relatively short amount of time where it's super warm and it's amazing. Right, that has to help a lot. And I'm a bit of a nervous flyer and then I wasn't because I kind of changed my mindset a little bit

and then was a little bit and I've acylate through that but it also helped me push my own boundaries there, right? And so that's a key part of what I believe in the seven pillars really. That's part of that stability equation, that's pillar four is boundaries. So both breaking them and setting them. The fifth thing for me is it really created

lasting positive memories and certainly made us all more happy. We were smiling, we enjoyed it, we got home very late. In fact, we got home the next morning because we drove from the airport that was a little far away. But it was worth it. We were in our own beds,

but we had just enjoyed such a great time. And we shared these and we treasure the stories we talked about, what we liked, what we didn't, what was scary, right? And it helped us strengthen the identity of us as the Penel Five, right? Going together, our three boys, my wife and I, my boys taking care of my wife when I went somewhere else,

my oldest going to the rooftop bar with my wife to enjoy that view and just these great experiences that we had that you can only have when you get out of your comfort zone, out of your house. And it's just a nice buffer against stress. So we built up that buffer where we got some relaxation. And sure we came back to school and work and things like that,

but we had just given ourselves a break. And so it's hugely important to use your vacation days. Don't just save them all till never or burn them up. Work will be there. Work will be there with or without you. It'll be there when you're on vacation or you're sick or if you leave, it's still gonna happen. But you need to take care of you

and that is the huge value that I found with the time I took with my family. And so the five benefits just to recap. Reduce and stress, right? Boost your bond with your family and connection. Give yourself and your family some problem solving skills on how to figure things out when they're old enough safely to go on their own within the resort

or somewhere else. Have a positive impact on physical health. So if you go somewhere, move around, get there, walk around a bit and build those lasting memories, right? And make yourself more happy. It's worth it, it's worth the money to spend on those experiences more so than I think on stuff. And that's a shift our family has done for sure

We've been fortunate. We proactively paid off some debt and cars Through through just constant rigor and credit to my wife of doing that So we were able to afford a vacation and so that's another strategy to think about so As we wrap this up, you know, remember it's not just escaping every day, right? It's a powerful investment, right? It'll help you tackle what comes next because you'll be refreshed, reconnected, and it helps your family dynamic, which is the most important thing. So maybe it's time for you to consider the benefits I talked about and plan your own vacation. Well,

thanks for taking your time and tuning into the Pupil Process and Progress Podcast. Until next time, let your hope ignite your drive. Let the plans you make maybe for vacation for family time guide you on what you're going to do. And then the actions that you take when you go travel somewhere with your family transform you and the world around you for the better. Godspeed y'all.