When it comes to vacation, I've noticed that there are two types of people: those who know how to relax, and those who don't.
On one hand, there's someone like me, who wants to do absolutely nothing while on vacation — literally. I want to lounge around, read a book, and perhaps explore a bit, but on my own terms, of course.
On the other hand, there's the vacationer who could not possibly be more unlike myself; each and every day has a preplanned itinerary, with visits to attractions and landmarks, planned down to the last minute — driving time included.
‏ The past vacations my family has embarked on have landed somewhere in between the two extremes. A happy medium was a must, or everything would turn sour before we'd even got to the hotel. Generally, a loose schedule would be thought up, leaving a generous amount of time for and in between events, just in case wherever we were headed turned out to be more enthralling than previously thought.
When we traveled to Florida in the spring of 2014, we spent one day solely exploring Kennedy Space Center and Cocoa Beach. We barely made it to Cocoa Beach before dark; My sister and I had to be practically dragged out of Cape Canaveral. We could have easily spent multiple days exploring one of the only glimpses into the space program available to the public.
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When it comes to vacation, I've found it's best to stick with compromise. If I ride that roller coaster with my sister, she'll ride the spinning, twisting one with me. Compromise truly is the best of both worlds, but it's important to remember that settling is not the same thing as compromising.
I will not settle on riding in the backseat of the car during road trips, because if I do, I will get horribly carsick and ruin the trip for everyone, free of charge. However, I'll compromise and let my sister sit in the front seat any time we're not driving for extended periods of time.
If we're not on vacation, compromise and settling are thrown out the window in regards to the car — whoever calls shotgun first has rightfully claimed the front seat.
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Vacations aside, compromise still holds its weight in being a life lesson worth living by. It definitely is an eye-opener on the parts of life that were previously hidden behind stubborn, closed doors. I always think of compromise as a type of mutual sharing, where both my mind and the minds of others are opened and benefited by what we both have to share.
As a headstrong teenager, it's occasionally difficult to negotiate, I get that. But to be a better person, it's necessary to realize that I am fairly insignificant when compared to the world as a whole. From there, I have a better perspective of the world, and in return, a better perspective on how the world and I can compromise together.
