I recently had a friend mention that I wasn’t taking a real vacation. Was I truly not? I think too often things are determined by others how we should act or do things. In this case what I think a vacation is. This kinda bothered me but it got me thinking about things.

A vacation is defined by webster as “a period spent away from home or business in travel or recreation” and “a period of exemption from work granted to an employee”.

For me my work is my love and joy. That doesn’t mean its stress free but it is what I enjoy. How many of us can say we actually enjoy our job? Are we taking a vacation to escape from work or is it to have something different for a week? Spend time with family?

I also think it depends on your personality. For me a complete disconnect is more damaging then good. For me I find when I do come back from a complete disconnect I am more stressed and feel like I am doing catchup for a month. On my honeymoon I experienced this. Doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. Just that when I got back I was stressed. I also sometimes had moments of thinking so much about it during the vacation I was more distracted then if I had read the chat messages. So when I’m back I find myself saying “I need a vacation from coming back from the vacation”.

For me I classify vacations as 3 types…..

1- Gone for a day or a few days. This could be during the week or a weekend. Work knows this but as long as its not urgent it doesn’t mater. Email / phone calls / chats are fine and welcomed. Just know I might take a while to respond but I will.

2- A bit longer vacation. Same as #1 but I have more limited time and my vacations time is determined by the group I am with. For example if we are just hanging out at the hotel/pool then sure I can take a bit of time to help. But if we are doing a tour at 10 and its 9:45 I am probably going to say it has to wait. The main difference is this…. PTO is valuable and I want to use it but not for time I am just sitting around. So if we are just sitting around waiting for the next event I will take things on at that time. My last vacation that I took for a week I had 9 hrs of that time. I can now use that on another vacation.

3- The getaway vacation without interruption. This is extremely rare but needed sometimes even though it might be bad for my personality. I would count my honeymoon for this also an anniversary. For me personally a cruise might fall under this. This is when my time is so valuable that not even work / me wanting to work is worth it.

I go back to the definition of “vacation” in all 3 of these types I am exempted from work, I can travel, and I am not restricted by any commitments that I didn’t make myself. More importantly I am having the vacation I want and need without adding more stress into my life.

Again love your work. If you don’t find a new job. This reminds me of when I use to work as a System Administratior for my High School. I loved it so much that they had to remind me to do my timecard. Looking back I didn’t get paid my worth and I also rounded hours (less than what I did) all the time. My boss said I know you did more hours. The point is to me it didn’t mater. I enjoyed my job and pay was just the bonus. As an adult yes we have bills to pay and that’s important but money aside I ask the question. Are we working for the enjoyment of what we do or just the pay?