You Need A Vacation!

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Guess what? Summer is coming to a close and we know for a fact, many of you have yet to take a real vacation. Maybe you got away from the office for a few days but did you really unplug and relax or were you working or worried about work?

You are not alone. Harvard Business review, shared a US Travel Association report showing that every year more than half of Americans give up paid time off with more than 30% forfeiting it completely. Add to this the fact that over 50% of managers feel burned out—taking vacation (and actually unplugging) has never been more important. And that goes for women especially.

How important is it really?

Very. Vacation time boosts creativity and innovation. I’ve heard many professionals say the best way to destress is to get the work done and off your plate. The problem is, it’s never really done, is it? Taking a break gives your mind an opportunity to think more clearly and increases creativity. This can happen in small ways you can implement once you return. Research shows merely taking a walk (even if it’s inside on a treadmill) significantly increases creativity. Many people report their big innovative ideas came not while working in the office, but during their time off. The added sleep we get while on vacation can help us think more clearly when we come back to it.

It improves employee performance, engagement and retention.

Studies show an increase in time off improved performance ratings and promotions. From an employer’s perspective, it improves retention, as employees who take time off are less likely to leave the company. They’re less likely to experience the stress and burnout that lead to lower engagement. The 2024 Gallup State of the Global Workplace Report indicates when organizations increase the number of engaged employees, they improve organizational outcomes including a 78% decrease in absenteeism, 23% increase in profitability and a 63% decrease in safety incidents.

It improves your physical wellbeing.

The prolonged stress many of us are under at work has profound negative effects on health. When the body is in fight or flight, the body secretes cortisol to help us get out of danger. The problem is, the brain secretes cortisol in response to the stress we are under at work and in our daily lives the same as it would when we are in imminent physical danger. Cortisol suppresses the immune system and creates inflammation, which is great for getting out of life-threatening situations, but not so great on a long-term basis. Inflammation causes disease and studies have shown those who take more vacation time are less likely to experience chronic illness.

Why do we feel we can’t take vacation?

You would think we’d all want to take a break and have some fun, right? Two factors come into play when considering why people don’t allow themselves time off. The first is societal expectations and conditioning, and the second is cortisol.

What were the messages you received about success when you were a child? You need to work hard to be successful. Money doesn’t grow on trees. Once we graduated from school, we were expected to get a job and work hard. We saw how hard everyone around us was working and figured we’d better keep up. Many of us heard our more senior colleagues wear their long hours and lack of vacation as a badge of honor. Our subconscious minds were telling us our very safety and survival depended on it.

Next, we have the cortisol discussed above at play. Whether you realize it or not, the stress you’ve been experiencing has made the feeling of focus and motivation you get from cortisol familiar to your body. Cortisol has been found to be more addictive than nicotine, so feeling you just can’t take a break is also driven by your body’s addiction to the stress hormone cortisol.

How to ensure you’re taking the breaks your mind and body need:

1. Plan vacation time early in the year. This will give you plenty of time to put contingency plans in place for circumstances that might arise while you are gone. Or consider a last-minute trip. Many destinations are offering last minute deals! 

2. Make taking vacation time a team commitment. If you are a people leader, be a role model by taking your vacation time. People are looking to you to set the tone. Like everything else, what you do carries more weight with your team than what you say. Next, discuss the importance of taking vacation time. Allow your team to come up with a schedule to ensure coverage where needed. If you are an individual contributor, have a conversation with your manager about your desire to take your vacation time (and the benefits to the organization) and how you will support the needs of the business. Offer to coordinate with your coworkers to ensure coverage.

3. Practice taking mini breaks in your regular workday to give your mind and body a break from cortisol and increase dopamine and oxytocin (the happy chemicals). Little by little you will decrease the familiarity of cortisol so taking a vacation and unplugging will feel safer and more natural to your body. Here are some things you can try: Find one or two (or more!) that work for you. You’ll figure out fast what works

4. Give yourself grace. It took a lifetime of conditioning to create your current habits and while it’s possible to rewire the brain, replacing the old with new supportive habits take time. Celebrate your small wins along the way. Maybe taking a long weekend and unplugging can be a great start!
 

“A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.” –St. Francis of Assisi

By Sheila Eggert
NOTE: Check out executive coach, Sheila Eggert’s bestselling new book “The Power of Living Unscripted: Reclaim Creative Control of Your Life” on Amazon. You can also see her recent TEDx “Self Trust and Transformation” here.
P.S. Meet Sheila live at the upcoming PINK Empowerment Event! Ask to be in her free coaching session.

A poem for you:

THE SUMMER DAY

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean —
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down —
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

—Mary Oliver