Why You Need to Take a Vacation

I read an article by Brian Tracy entitled "Four Essentials For Happiness".  His four steps are:

1. "The key to happiness" in which you desire to have happy relationships in your life.
2. "Enjoy your work".  You spend a major portion of your life working, so your job should be something you look forward to, that challenges you. 
3. "Become financially independent".  Money is often the biggest worry in someone's life.  By managing your money, you will be able to enjoy the niceties of life and free yourself from worry.
4. "Enjoy excellent health".  Without your health, the other three become unimportant.  Take care of yourself; don't take it for granted.

Brian Tracy has suggestions as to how to achieve each of the above "four essentials".  His first suggestion is to take stock of what would make you really happy in each of the four areas and to think about this on a regular basis, because some things may change over time.

Secondly, he says to set specific, measurable goals for improvement in each of the four areas.

And lastly, and I think most important of all, he says to "resolve to do something every day to increase the quality of some area of your life - and then keep your resolution."  This last one can apply to your need to take time off and relax.  Take a vacation - you deserve it.  How many people have vacation time accrued but are afraid to take it because they don't want to take the time off from work.  They feel there is too much to do, things won't get done while they are away.  Or maybe a person is self-employed.  I can relate to that.  In this case, it may be that if you don't work, you don't get paid.  You don't want to take that time off because of that.  But think of the last time you did take a vacation.  How did it feel when you went back to work?  In most cases, the answer would be that the person is rejuvenated, ready to get back to work, and feeling good to do so.

Many Americans are workaholics and America itself is known for burnt out workers.  In an article written by Eve Tahmincioglu, of msnbc.com, it is stated that "Companies are beginning to realize the benefits of vacations for their weary workers — fewer sick days, smaller health care bills and a more motivated workforce. Unfortunately, not all employers get this, and sometimes it’s the workers themselves that don’t get this, either. They have a perverted view that not taking time off and keeping their nose to the grindstone will advance their career, or keep their jobs from ending up on the chopping block.
But in fact, it could lead to burnout, emotional and physical illness, and end up jeopardizing their careers, their lives.  So take vacation, people!"

“Taking a vacation is not a luxury — it’s a necessity,” says Kathleen Hall, founder of The Stress Institute in Atlanta. “If you don’t have the opportunity to relax and reflect you get stressed, and chronic stress is the driver of most diseases — heart disease, obesity, insomnia.”

"It is important for people to take their vacations — meaning vacations of a week or two long. Taking a day or two doesn't do as much good," explains Wallace Huffman, economics professor at Iowa State University. "Productivity could increase by up to 60 percent for employees in the month or two following a good vacation."

And don't think that you can take a vacation and keep up with work at the same time.  You are doing yourself (and your family) a disservice and you are allowing your job to rule your life.  Disconnect your cell phone, your IPad, your Kindle, your Blackberry.  Have someone cover for you at work.  Leave the laptop at home.  Your vacation is a time to relax, not just work from a different locale.  

“In order to have a successful long-term career, you need to manage your career, plan to take time off regularly to allow your body to regenerate so not to suffer from burnout, exhaustion, depression,” Huffman advises. “This becomes even more important as people live longer.”

Workplace legal expert Robin Bond offered these vacation tips:

• Inform others in advance. Let co-workers and clients know of your vacation time as soon as you plan it, and send a reminder of your absence as the dates approach. Advise clients whom they can contact when you are away.
• Have a buddy system in place. Get projects to a good stopping place before you leave, and ask a trusted colleague to serve as a backup in case any urgent problems arise in your absence. Be sure to return the favor.
• Schedule around busy business cycles.
• And relax!

After all, why are you working in the first place?  Hopefully, as in essential # 2, because you enjoy it.  You are also trying to accomplish #3, which is financial stability, and along with that, set up a savings plan as you would for anything else, and put the money aside for your yearly (or more often) vacation where you can relax, recharge, rejuvenate, and stay healthy (#4 above).

And when you are at your destination, close your eyes, take a deep breath in, blow it out, and congratulate yourself!  You did it, you let go!