Unplugging sounds so foreign these days. We feel like we’re failing our employers and ourselves as professionals if we can’t respond or take action within a moments notice. We’ve become accustomed to this culturally self-imposed need to be on at all times. What about us? The personal part of us? The part of us that has to get up in the morning and go to bed at night? The one that needs a mental break from constant stimulation and pressure? The part of us that we see, or can’t seem to find, when we look in the mirror?
The lines between our personal and professional selves has become incredibly blurred.
What do I mean when I say take a real vacation from work?
I mean no contact with work – no reading or responding to emails, no texts, no Slacking, no phone calls. Nothing. Disable or delete every single function on your phone that would connect you with work.
That’s not possible? The entire operation will collapse without you in a span of a few days? Unless you’re some kind of superhero, that’s extremely unlikely.
Okay, so how does one take this real vacation? Well, there’s a lot of planning involved, of course, but it can be done and it should be done. We are so accessible that at nearly any other point in our lives, we are almost always one notification chime away from handling and responding to our work. If this happens at work that’s one thing, but when you’re at the dinner table with your family or at your daughters soccer game, you’re missing out on those moments.
It’s unhealthy. You could argue that it’s productive to respond to lower priority, “low hanging fruit” emails and messages during “off” hours (the time you’d spend with your family, friends or on yourself), but, even so, it’s still unhealthy.
What does the planning look like to make this vacation a reality? First, tell your supervisor of your intentions. Second, you need to pick a time of the year that is on the slower side so that you aren’t feeling pressure to check in on a project or meet a fast-approaching deadline. You get your ducks in a row, sort through what’s on your plate, delegate, and take care of all the pressing tasks that need to taken care of before you go. Anything non-critical will be there when you get back, because the work will always be there for you when you get back.
If this still sounds completely unrealistic, then perhaps you start off small – one day – to see how things go (is the office still standing?). If it all checks out, or you find some kinks, work through them but don’t give up.
Allowing yourself to disconnect from work and recharge you for just one week can dramatically improve your mental health and productivity once you get back to the office. Allow yourself the time to be the you you, not the professional you. The one that likes waking up early to catch a sunrise, climb a new mountain, see new sights or drink a cold brew in the hot sun.
Here’s my personal experience on the subject…
Years ago, when I was only a year or two into my career, I went on a one week vacation and told my boss that I would not be connected. After my vacation they told me they were disappointed in me for not engaging during my earned vacation. So, out of guilt and the desire to advance in my career, I started staying connected while on vacation for many years. Guess what happened? I would be reading emails with complaints about essentially nonsense that was happening in the office and issues that were going on and was expected to participate in engaging in and resolving them. I have anxiety as it is, so having to deal with these work-related issues while I should have been decompressing caused me to feel extremely anxious and pretty much ruined these vacations because I struggle to “leave things at my desk” and tend to replay things in my mind over and over and over again. Welcome to the anxious mind.
More than that, after years of seemingly never having that real vacation, and because I had also self-committed to responding to emails and working at night and on weekends, I was completely burnt out. While any “normal” person deserves and needs to have completely unplugged time away from work, someone with anxiety, particularly induced by the workplace, absolutely needs a break.
In recent years I have completely unplugged from work when on a vacation. I stopped feeling guilty for it and I stopped worrying about the possible consequences of focusing on myself and my personal needs. I deserved time to myself.
Look, I’m not saying this is easy to do or that it won’t require a significant amount of planning and coordination, because as you can see I fell into the trap too. Ten years later, as both an employee and a human resource professional, I can say with absolute confidence that employees need a break – a real vacation – from work given today’s relentless demands on our time and our mental health.
Employers, make this a part of your culture, and employees, take it.
