Timeshares and the Opportunity to Learn More about Yourself

This past Sunday was the ninety-second birthday of Nelson Mandela, the first person elected President (1994-1999) of South Africa in a democratic election. While this visionary leader has said and done much that is so memorable, there is one famous Mandela quote that always sticks with me. He said, “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”

In the timeshare industry, we talk a lot about the opportunities of timeshare exchange – how you can vacation in a different destination every year, enjoy a one-bedroom timeshare unit this year during a romantic getaway for you and your spouse and then exchange for a three-bedroom timeshare next year and take all the kids as well as Grandma and Grandpa. You can vacation on a beach in the Bahamas this year and a ski chalet in Switzerland next year. Timeshare exchange makes vacation ownership infinitely flexible and is clearly one of the deciding factors for many people in choosing to become timeshare owners.

Yet there is also much to be said for, “returning to a place that remains unchanged.” Certainly when you vacation year after year at the same destination, you find the resort updated, amenities added and things changed in the surrounding cities and towns. But a backdrop of mountains is timeless. The ocean, while always changing, is in many ways a constant. The whiteness of the snow on your favorite ski run, the wind in the pines on the eighteenth tee, and the fragrance of wildflowers across the meadow are in many ways different, yet are always the same.

Your life moves forward. Your career may change, your children will grow, and your values and interests will evolve over time. But as President Mandela so sagely points out, the ebb, flow, and progression of your life will be the most measurable and self-evident during those times when you pause, return to places that have mattered in your past, and reconnect with moments that are everlasting.