Getting Recharged
The Christmas season is a time when many people take their vacations. Some travel around the globe visiting relatives, others have a houseful of guest that are too loud and stay too long. Even though people take vacation time and get away from the office, are they really getting a vacation?
This is a time of the year where many families have obligatory traditions. There is no questioning the tradition of going to his parents on Christmas Eve and then her parents on Christmas morning and then to Aunt Annoying for Christmas afternoon - only to finish the day by heading back to his parents for desert. Christmas day has been an exhausting exercise in traditional torture - repeated year after year.
Don’t get me wrong. If it is enjoyable then it is counts as vacation time. These kinds of traditional runs are usually not relaxing or fun. They are exhausting and emotionally taxing.
When you take vacation time, make sure most of it is doing something you enjoy or doing something different than the normal grind. If you are dreading your Christmas vacation, start doing something about it now. It is not too late.
We need times to get recharged and break from our routines. For me, it takes a minimum of ten days to get recharged. For others it may be shorter or even longer. Vacation time is earned; it is a benefit. Use it.
You would be surprised how many people let vacation time pile up until the employer stops adding time and you start losing time.
Leverage vacation days, so you can get an extended time off and not use up all of your time. I know someone who will only have to take 4 vacation days and will get 11 days off. The way Christmas falls on a Sunday; some companies are giving Friday off for Christmas Eve and the Monday after for Christmas. The Monday after New Year day is a holiday because New Year falls on a Sunday as well.
If you are taking vacation, make sure you really take vacation. You need it more than you might admit.
Comment by Gerald
I hear ya!
The most important person to give a gift is yourself.
That doesnt mean being selfish - it means giving yourself some time and space to relax so that when you DO spend time with Aunt Annoying, you can actually enjoy it and she will think what a charming and relaxed person you have become.
Comment by Dave
Amen!
Comment by eph2810
Yup - doing it this year with my Sweetheart. This is first year after a long time we have the same days off. Plan on just hanging out, going to the movies or watching movies at home. 11 days of sweet nothing. PTL!
Comment by The Blogging Boss
gerald, yep!
dave, amen back to you!
eph, sounds divine.
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Comment by Ananke
We have the “use it or lose it” type of vacation days, and I don’t waste ANYTHING! I earned that time and I plan to use every bit of it. I’m constantly amazed when I hear about people who give up vaction days year after year.
Comment by Beth
I’m one of those people that rarely takes vacation time. I know I should, I want to, just hard to do.
Somehow I became a workaholic. It really isn’t good. But I have to leave town and get away from the phones to actually get time off. I work so much better when I have had time off.
Good advise.
Comment by The Blogging Boss
Beth,
Take every hour of vacation that you earn. You would not ask your company to subtract a day’s wages for every day that you did not take, right?
Leave it behind and discover life beyond the confines of the cubicle walls.
Have a great Christmas!
Eric
Comment by Beth
But Eric, I’m indespensible
Ha!
Comment by Dave
I have a great present for my balding boss… a sharpie so he can draw a crack on his head to look more like the butthead he is.