3 Benefits of Taking Vacation

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DeathtoStock_NotStock8

Sometimes it’s hard to get away from it all. Especially with smart phones almost surgically attached to our hands, none of us can really escape from work or other responsibilities.

Thank You, Steve Jobs. Love the technology; just dislike feeling like I’m always connected even when I’m in the bathroom.

Still, it is very important for our mental health to cut the cord, leave the nest and find some place to refresh. Even if it’s just for a few days.

I am a HUGE believer in taking a vacation, although I wasn’t always this way.

Early in my career I had the opportunity to visit Australia for two weeks. This was before smart phones and the internet, so if I left town there was no way for me to easily connect with work. And that was the dilemma. How could I possibly leave for two weeks? What if something went wrong? How would the office live without me?

Sensing my frantic state, my boss very wisely told me, “There is nothing that can happen while you’re gone that we can’t fix when you get back”.

Personally, I thought she just wanted to get rid of me but I took her advice and went on vacation.

And had a blast! Two weeks later I returned, full of tales of the Outback and Koalas and the Barrier Reef and other adventures. I was energized and refreshed, ready to continue with the intense challenges of my job.

Guess what? The business was still humming along, perfectly fine. Although my assistant was glad to see me.

What I learned is that vacations are not a luxury; they are vital to my productivity. Before this trip, I thought that by skipping vacation I was helping the business. In reality, I was hurting it and most importantly, myself. I was less productive, less creative and my management style was less than enthusiastic.

3 Benefits of Taking Vacation

  • Rest and Rejuvenate. Sounds obvious, right? Yet we don’t realize how tired or crazy stressed-out we are until we actually go on vacation. Once away from day-to-day activities, we slowly start to unwind until full relaxation is achieved. Sometimes this takes a day; sometimes two or three. For me, it’s usually a full week to catch up on sleep, get some exercise and have fun. We return home looking and feeling better than when we left; with more energy to tackle any obstacles that work or life may hand us.
  • Boost Creativity. A change of scenery is good for so many things; one of them is that it can really get those creative juices flowing. Simply by visiting another location, doing something different or visiting with new people, we tend to see things with a new set of eyes, which is good for problem solving or other creative tasks. Even if you’re not employed, a change of scenery is always a good mood-booster.
  • Seeing the Big Picture. Going on vacation and getting away from whatever was causing us to stress out allows the opportunity to think clearly and gain perspective. Sometimes we get so bogged down in the tactics that we can feel trapped in a one-way situation. Or we become a Negative Nellie, without a positive comment about work or family or whatever. It just seems like everything is too much. Vacation allows us time to step away from it all and to realize it’s not as difficult or as bad as it seems. We simply needed a break.

Remember: Take your vacation; your well-being depends on it. Relax, refresh, step back and look at the big picture. The office will survive without you.

Change of Scenery

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Lake Tahoe

Vacation is here and I’m so ready for it! I’ve got books to read, magazines to catch up on and the resort is calling my name. Our friends are already there waiting for us, texting us photos of themselves relaxing by the pool.

Truth is I’m not ready. Why does vacation always sneak up on me like this?  It’s not like we’ve had the reservations for months or anything.

Okay, we did make the reservations months ago. This should be no surprise since it’s an annual trip at the same time of year.  For eight years.

What are we going to do? First there’s packing.  Then we’ve got to buy food for our house-sitter as well as dog food.  There is laundry to do before we pack.  Make sure mom has what she needs before we leave.  Take care of bills too; heaven forbid we forget to pay something.

Whew; I’m tired just thinking about it.

Not to mention work.  What’s the saying?  You work a week’s worth of overtime just getting ready for vacation, then another week of overtime when you get back so you can catch up.

Is a vacation really worth all this effort?

Absolutely, unequivocally, 100% yes.

We all need a change of scenery every once in a while.  The chance to look at a different view and experience something new; to get out from under our daily routine.   The freedom from everyday distractions can be refreshing.

At home, Hubby and I find ourselves so focused on things that “need to be done” that we forget to stop and just relax.  Vacations, no matter how short, offer us the opportunity to forget about our responsibilities for awhile.

Hubby and I take this very seriously.  We feel so strongly about it that we even found a way to make this happen when both of us were laid off.  Doesn’t have to be a week; even a day trip can be rejuvenating.

As a writer, I find that staying at my desk too long stifles me.  Writing is based on experiences, after all, and how can I have any experiences if I’m chained to an office?

So we’re off to relax, rejuvenate and read.  I hope you have a vacation planned too – you deserve a change of scenery.

Weekend Getaway

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Tahoe mountain pic

We always talk about “getting away for a weekend”.  Talk, talk, talk – we talk A LOT about it.  Yet it’s something Hubby and I seldom do.

There’s always a million little reasons why we can’t or shouldn’t or don’t take a weekend.  Work. Money. Family. Work.  I could just type “work” over and over again as the real reason behind our inability to get away.  It’s just too difficult to power down for even a few days.  And even more difficult to face the hundreds of emails when we return.

Fed up, I finally decided to do something other than talking about a long weekend.  Hubby had a birthday coming up and I planned a weekend out-of-town as an early present.

It was hard to lock in a date, agree to power down for the weekend and just relax.  Fear crept in as the date approached with both of us wondering how we would ever get our work done.

What if someone needs us? How long would it take us to bounce back? Would we actually turn-off and relax? COULD we actually do it? Or had we forgotten how to enjoy a few days of R&R?

I had the added stress of leaving mom, who had taken a nasty tumble and was not yet 100%.   Even the doctor reassured me she would be fine.

Well, let me tell you something. It was just like riding a bike. We remembered how to relax.  And it was awesome!

Aside from taking tons of photos and sharing on social media, that was it.  No work emails.

Going into this, we had a few goals.  Play golf.  Hike.  Sit on the side of a mountain and watch the world go by.

Check, check and check.

The best part?  We were able to clear out minds for a few days and let other thoughts enter. 

Sitting on a rock on the side of a mountain, we talked and listened to birds and just enjoyed the breathtaking view.  With undivided attention we shared thoughts and ideas with each other in the calm of the day and both came away inspired, actually ready to get back to work.

Weekend getaways should be required for everyone, whether you’re working or looking for work.  They can bring out the best in a person; mainly a fresh perspective.

Look at me; I got this blog post out of it.

Biking, Hiking and BBQs Oh My! But What About the Job Search?

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Beach pic

June is finally here and you know what that means: summer vacation!

As Pink Floyd so famously sang, “No more pencils, no more books! No more teachers dirty looks!”

I remember that euphoric feeling as the last bell rang for the year or in college when I finished my last final exam.  It was awesome knowing I had at least two months of relaxation without school responsibilities.

Too bad that all ends when we start our careers and enter the “real world”.

No more summer vacations.  If we’re lucky, we can bookend the summer with long weekends at Memorial Day and Labor Day. Depending on how the calendar falls we may get a third long weekend at Fourth of July.

Hardly the freedom-fest summers of our youth.

It’s been ages since I was in school yet for some reason at this time of year I still find myself wanting to slow down from work and take a step back.   With the sun finally shining I guess I’m ready to come out of hibernation.

Or more appropriately, I’m ready to get up from my desk, longing for a respite from the busy go-go-go lifestyle that has taken over.

Yes, I want to run away from it all. Even if only for a little while.

My mind plays tricks on me, suddenly forgetting all the things on my to-do list.  Knowing that we have a couple of trips planned, Vacation Brain tries to push Work Brain out of the way weeks before it’s time to leave.

I play all sorts of games to remain focused on career, networking, finding my next opportunity and the like, yet it seems in vain. There are simply too many distractions.

The swimming pool is calling me to come outside.  Friends in the teaching profession have free time to play.  Family wants to come to visit. Tons of summer festivals and events.  Biking, hiking, and BBQ’s, oh my!

Even the news is conspiring against me, telling me summer is a terrible time to look for a new job, that hiring tends to decrease over the summer as managers take vacations and a slew of other reasons.  My mind says this sounds reasonable.

Vacation Brain says, “Go ahead and give in; don’t do any work for the next couple of months”.

Work Brain knows I’m responsible and forces me back to reality saying “You know better.”   Sometimes I really hate being responsible.

Work Brain is right. We should not give in to the temptation to relax our standards just because it’s summer and vacation is right around the corner.

Especially anyone who is looking for a new job.  Don’t lose your momentum!  Let others drop out of the job search race if they want; that gives you the edge.  Besides, you never know when there might be a new opportunity and you could be the first to see it.

Should you enjoy summer and plan a vacation? Of course! It’s always good to take a short break to rejuvenate.   Just make sure you have a plan for staying on top of your job search strategy rather than dropping out completely.

Vacation!

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Polihale Beach on Kauai, Hawaii

It’s been a long, stressful week that included a family emergency.  Good news is, everyone is doing well.  Bad news is that it was not conducive to writing.  Since I feel like I need a vacation, I’m running an “oldie but goodie” for your enjoyment. 

Ahhh…vacation!  The time to get away from it all. To refresh and re-energize.  Yep, I’m one of “those” people, the kind who believes in taking a true vacation to get away from everything for a week or so.  No checking email, no calling the office.  I tell the people I work with, “If the building burns, save yourself and tell me about it when I get back”.  No sense telling me when I’m not there to do anything about it.

Never have understood the concept of a “working vacation” either – isn’t that an oxymoron?  If I’m going to spend the money for a vacation I want to enjoy it – sans work.

Funny thing is that my family didn’t really take vacations.  A couple times we accompanied dad on a business trip to Florida; along the way we’d wait for him in the car or at a restaurant while he called on clients, eventually ending up at the beach for a couple days.  Every few years Sis and I would go to Grandma’s in Minnesota, but that was it.  No weekends at the lake, no ski vacations, no trips just for fun.

I learned about the beauty of a vacation after business school, when I had friends living in other cities.  Those friends would say, “Come visit sometime” – and whether they meant it or not, I took them up on the offer.  (Note to all of you: if you say “come visit”, know that at some point I will do just that)

It wasn’t always easy for me to take a vacation.  I was (and sometimes still am) plagued by worries: what if something “big” happens while I’m gone? What if someone needs me? What if, what if, what if?

Early on I had a great boss who heard me lamenting the “what ifs” and wisely told me, “There is NOTHING that will happen in your absence that we can’t fix when you get back”.   Logic told me she was right and I’ve tried to remember that ever since.

Last week was it – vacation time!  An entire week of fun at our favorite resort with no work in sight, and it was beyond great.  Vacation Brain kicked in for both Hubby and I as soon as we left for the airport, a definite signal that it was time to relax. We read, talked, swam, lounged and were generally lazy.  Work Brain was nowhere to be seen, as it should be during vacation.

As with all good things, our trip came to an end far too soon and my Vacation Brain reluctantly started powering down while my Work Brain tried to wake from a nice nap.  At the airport, Work Brain said it would be a good idea to download my emails so I could at least scan them on the plane.  Sounded logical, so I tried to log-on.  Note I said “tried” – for the life of me I couldn’t remember my log-in info.  Vacation Brain clearly was still in command.  After some time, I finally remembered and logged in – a small victory for Work Brain.

Hubby was having difficulty too.  Wanting to initiate a call with a co-worker, he started to send an email with his cell phone number – but Vacation Brain forbade him from remembering his own number. Work Brain, unfortunately, reminded him that I had his phone number in my phone.

Once I was online, Work Brain commanded that I look at my in-box. Yikes – how could one person have that many emails in just a week?  My mind raced as Vacation Brain was desperate to keep me in resort mode.  Looking at the subject lines, I tried to recall what I was working on when I left town.

My mind was sputtering, with a vague memory of some projects but not enough for the emails to make complete sense.  And who ARE all these people, wanting answers from me?  Do I work with them?  I could feel the tension in my head as Work Brain fought to recover information from a week ago, while Vacation Brain attempted to keep all that information hidden.

Back and forth, the battle for control raged in my head as I read the emails, trying to make sense of it all.  Once the plane landed, Work Brain started a victory dance, knowing that as soon as we exited the jet way Vacation Brain was history.

Sigh. Why is it always like this? Within seconds of returning from vacation, it’s as though we never left at all.  I enjoy my work but I really do cherish the little bit of vacation I take and I would love for the feeling to last longer than a nanosecond.

Good news is the office didn’t burn.  At least I don’t think it did.