Half the fun of the trip is the countdown. Don’t rush the part where you get to look forward to something.

Looking forward to something is not dead time before the real event, it is a large part of the event. The anticipation has its own texture: the planning, the packing, the conversations about what you will do. Rush through it and you shorten a good thing by weeks for no reason.

Whatever you have coming up, let yourself be openly excited about it now. Make the playlist, look at the map, talk about it with the people going. The waiting is free and it belongs to you, so spend it rather than wishing it gone.