"Live like you don't need a vacation," what does that mean exactly? This is a time of year when most people take some kind of time off work, and whether it's just a day or two or a couple of weeks it's always nice to get away. But what exactly are you getting away from? Anytime of year, anytime you take a vacation, what is it you need a break from -- your job? The routine? Or your life in general?

Sadly, for some people that last choice is the truest one. If you feel you need to get away "from it all" then maybe your life is out of balance. The concept of living like you don't need a vacation is about finding a balance in your life so that although you may still want vacations you won't necessarily need them to be happy. Vacations should be frosting on the cake of life -- although frosting does add serious flavor the cake is still pretty good without it. If your cake is unbearable without the frosting then you may want to look at fixing the recipe.
Getting that special balance that makes vacations all about fun and not so much about "escaping" starts with figuring out your priorities. What do you need to be happy? For most people life can be broken down into 3 basic areas:

• Family/relationships
• Work/career
• Recreation/fun/hobbies

If you want to you could also put home/household chores down as a 4th area, or maybe health and fitness, but to me those things aren't so much independent areas as they are things you do to promote or help the other three things on the list (and if you're lucky maybe they even fall into the "fun" category). Everybody's list of priority life areas can be different, just as long as you have one and are regularly making sure each area is getting a fair share of your time. Maybe you're spending too much time at work and aren't getting enough time with your family or hobbies, or maybe you gave up focusing on a career or dream for family or financial reasons and are left feeling unsatisfied.

Finding balance isn't easy, but if you can let go of what you think you're supposed to do and instead focus on what you want and need to do, you could be surprised at how things start falling into place. And remember: being your best at work and with your family starts with taking care of yourself.