The idea of a vacation helping you to refresh your brain and recharge your battery is a universally accepted one, and with good reason…
Chances are that if you’ve been under a lot of work pressure lately, you’ve heard friendly advice from friends, family, or even bosses to "take a break." A holiday reduces stress and work pressure, making you healthier and happier on the whole. That said, more and more people in the economically unstable world of today are choosing to forego vacations, citing various beliefs and reasons. Let’s bust all the I-don’t-need-a-vacation excuses so that you can plan your next holiday right away.
Excuse 1: I am a loyal and dedicated employee, so no holidays for me.
Okay, so you’re a workaholic and your career means the world to you. Who says that being on the job every day with longer-than-average hours makes you a rising star in the company you are sacrificing for your holidays? Studies have shown that the work performances of people who do not take vacations or holidays slowly starts to dwindle – the promotions, the raises, and the praises die similar ignominious deaths. Vacations in fact help your career since they give you a chance to think out of the box and perhaps even put some fresh ideas in that dedicated brain of yours.
Excuse 2: Vacations? But those are for families and kids!
Says who? There’s no time like now to be happy and who wouldn’t be ecstatic to take a break from the monotony of work. Studies have shown that the simple act of planning a vacation gives a tremendous boost to a person’s happiness quotient. And seriously, a vacation without kids is perhaps the best of them all since it allows you to do what you want and when you want – which means post-vacation your bliss may just spill over to your work! Adventure? Check. Cross country solo travel? Check. Hanging out with gals and pals? Check. Just a relaxing, I-am-not-going-to-lift-my-finger holiday? Check, check, check!
Excuse 3: A vacation? Do you know how much they cost?
The cost of a vacation really just depends on the vacation itself. You could spend oodles of money at resorts that only celebs visit, or go to a simple cabin-in-the-woods rustic inn and have a relaxing few days there too. There are plenty of options for travel on a budget. Also, many companies offer a Leave Travel Allowance or even concessions for the express purpose of letting their employees have an annual holiday without busting their bank balances. Many companies may also have fringe benefits including company guesthouses in exotic locales they may encourage their employees to take benefit of. Face it, good HR practices dictate that a company invest in their employees – why not take advantage of it and do your company a favor!
Excuse 4: If I am stressed, I will take a break – and no sooner!
You may not be stressed now, but things change in a snap in offices and before you know it, work stress spills over into work quality. Claiming you haven’t taken a vacation once you make a mistake is no way to save face. Think of the vacations as annual stress checkups: you never need treatment till you need it – prevention is the best cure!
Excuse 5: Take a vacation? Ha, and how will the office function without me?
We'd all like to believe that the office and its well-oiled mechanisms rest solely on our shoulders. Sadly, that’s not true, ever! In fact, if you take a vacation and manage to telecommute and otherwise allocate your work well amongst your juniors or colleagues, your seniors may better appreciate your team-leading and organizational skills. Taking a vacation will not make your seniors want to replace you – in fact your detail to work and responsibility will make them appreciate your skills all the more.
Excuse 6: Taking a vacation? No thanks – I like just where I am at!
Resistance to change – aka being comfortable in the rut you are in – is not considered to be a good trait in an employee. You have to be conducive to new ideas and new directions and vacations often prepare you for just that. Being in a new place, meeting new people and otherwise stepping out of your comfort zone makes you a person better suited to adjustment and change. When you go for a vacation, it’s not just a holiday – you begin with planning the budget, choosing the location as well as booking the hotel. This adds to your repertoire of skills, making you a more organized person. At the holiday itself, you end up meeting and interacting with strangers – thus adding to your people and networking skills. Finally, if something goes wrong during a vacation (think Murphy’s Law), you learn to cope and create out-of-the-box solutions – yet again traits our employers wholeheartedly approve of. So in short, go take that holiday!
Excuse 7: Oh come on, a vacation cannot help me in my job!
Let us reiterate the ways a vacation is in fact a great help to your job and for your career.
- It gives your brain a break: The monotony of a job gets to all of us – even dream jobs start to resemble nightmares after some time. So a vacation gives your poor brain a break from it all and helps you see things in a better perspective – new angles often serendipitously lead to innovative solutions.
- It refreshes and rejuvenates you: A relaxing vacation de-stresses you and gives you the mental power to keep calm and keep working even amidst irritating colleagues, a horrendous workload, and a boss-zilla…
- It gives you an opportunity to brush up life skills: Be it out-of-the-box thinking or networking, organizational skills or the calmness to accept that which is beyond your control, a vacation can end up being an awesome life coach. And life skills are what makes us better than the rest at our jobs – qualifications alone don’t take us up the success ladder.
- It makes you healthier physically, too: A relaxed brain makes for a healthier body – it is a proven fact that stress reduces immunity. So instead of not taking vacations and ending up calling sick, it’s better to go on a holiday to remain a healthier employee.
- Not taking a vacation doesn’t help your career either: So finally, let’s just say that we still haven’t been able to convince you. Fine, no problems. The thing is, not going on a vacation isn’t going to help your career either – in fact it just may be detrimental. Not giving yourself a break means you might just be slowing down your mental acuity – which makes Jack a very dull boy indeed! So if you don’t take that vacation, you’re doing so at your own risk…
There, we’ve done our job. It’s time for you to do yours – start planning that vacation now.
Write in to us with your thoughts on vacations in the comments section below…
