I'm a big fan of being on vacation, and the mindset that one wears *while* on vacation. I wrote a whole book about it, called Road Trip Mind.
You leave the house, hop in your car or on a plane, and all the old rules no longer apply. You're off to somewhere you've never really been before, with new people who have different customs than the ones you are used to, and who may even speak a different language. They're just not going to *act* the way that you expect them to, based on your life back home. And the thing is, because you're on vacation, somehow you *don't* expect them to act the way you're used to everyone in your everyday life acting. You are more tolerant, even curious. You look upon the people you meet and the ways they handle themselves almost as a tourist attraction, something to gaze at and ponder and hopefully learn from. I just moved to a tourist town on the beach in Spain. There are more interacting and conflicting lifestyles and customs here than any place I've ever lived. I mean, you've got straight people sitting next to the gayest people you've ever met in your life, having fairly pleasant conversations. You've got young kids drinking too much and partying loudly next to older people who would appreciate them keeping the volume down a little, but don't really demand that they do so because they're on vacation, and so are the kids, and different rules apply when you're on vacation. And you know what? In this tourist town by the sea you rarely see any cops. The reason is that they rarely need them here. People manage to police them- selves fairly well, IMO because many of them -- tourists or locals -- wear that "being on vacation" mindset, and are a little more forgiving than they might be if not on vacation. My advice? Think of Fairfield Life a little more as a vacation spot -- somewhere you got to get away from your everyday life. Don't try to bring that everyday life with you and impose it on others you meed. Instead, get into Road Trip Mind and open yourself to new exper- ience, new ways of doing things. You might learn some- thing from doing it, and you would almost certainly have more fun.
