Happy Thursday,
Hope you are all having a great day! I’ve just returned from vacation and while being away I had some time to reflect over the past years. I reflected not only on my business life but also on my personal life.
It is a fact that as Canadians we take less vacation time that most of our counterparts in the rest of the world. My husband and I were part of that group until 10 years ago. We would take one week a year as vacation and wouldn’t do anything too exciting. I vividly recall it being a camping trip, going to a cottage or just sitting back at home.
Everyone has excuses as to why a vacation wasn’t taken, too busy, no money, life got busy ect. I made those excuses too but 10 years ago I decided to make a commitment to myself and to take time to appreciate and spend time with my family and friends. You never know what life will throw your way and you may not get the second chance you wished for. It’s sad to think that we work hard on a daily basis, reach goals, drive in traffic, keep up with our kids extra curricular, parents aging and just life in general that we need vacation time. Stress has been proven to be one of the major causes of cancer yet we need time to relax and reflect in order to reduce that amount of stress in our lives. It has been proven that once we slow down, sit back and take a vacation that we become better at our jobs upon returning as oppose to dragging ourselves out of bed to face the next day.
Which brings me to my final part of this blog. There is nothing worse that when you are going on vacation someone says “Again?” or “Must be nice wish I could take one!”. Very rarely do you hear “Glad to see you are taking a break or I am going to go away as well wish me the best or hope you have a great time.” Supporting those who live life to the fullest seems to be something we simply don’t do. Remember that it will never say on our tombstone “loving employee”. I can guarantee taking a vacation will help make you a better employee! Work hard to plan the next trip is my motto. Hope it becomes yours too!
Have a great day!
Denise