06/17/2024 | Press release | Archived content
By Barbara Gutierrez[email protected]06-17-2024
As the song says: "Summertime and the livin' is easy." The kids are out of school, the family is together, temperatures soar. Time to take a vacation. Or not.
A recent survey by the Pew Research Center revealed that while many employees appreciate the paid vacation days received from their employers, only 46 percent of workers take the time off. Many cite fear of losing their jobs, fear of being overlooked for promotions, and others feel badly that their absence will mean more work for their co-workers.
Blaine Fowers, professor at the University of Miami School of Education and Human Development, who has done extensive work on the psychology of flourishing, weighs in on the importance of time off.
Blaine FowersFirst, let me say that vacations are vital to well-being. That makes this an even more important statistic because it helps to explain why Americans are voluntarily overworked. Unfortunately, we live in a culture that prioritizes a fast-paced, competitive, accomplishment-driven, and material- and outcome-based life above a life of well-being. Americans are simply living out these cultural values by neglecting to take paid vacations. Workers are afraid of falling behind, missing out, or becoming more dispensable because employers indicate very little loyalty to employees and are willing to let them go very easily. Employers need rational vacation policies to encourage their workers to be at their best with vacations. Some employers are very short sighted and only try to extract the most out of their employees in the short-term.
Everyone needs a change from their routines to refresh themselves. Leisure is as important to well-being as meaningful work. Leisure time is an important component of a complete life. I find that the refreshment of vacation means that I am actually more productive when I return from vacation, so that the time off more than pays for itself in work productivity-let alone enjoyment, interest, and zest for life.
There is no question in my mind that taking a break from work through vacationing is good for one's mental health. Vacations are part of a complete life.
I firmly believe that vacationing is deeply refreshing and necessary. I work hard, usually seven days a week, and I really need a break from time to time to maintain that schedule. I think taking time off is rewarding because it's fun and enriching. Even if all I looked at was my productivity, I believe that taking time off to vacation leads to greater overall productivity than if I worked during the vacation time.
I have learned several things about vacations (and done it wrong many times).
Vacations take a little time to settle into. It usually takes me almost a week to feel like a vacation, so give yourself some time. I seldom go for more than two weeks, but I'm glad when I can get 10-14 days of vacation.
I do a lot of things on vacation. I love physical exercise, so I will hike, bike, kayak, and walk a lot. My favorite activity is hiking in the forest, especially mountainous and wilderness terrain. Green space is fabulous for resetting. Similarly, I have learned that blue space (water) is refreshing, and I usually find that by kayaking, but there are lots of approaches, like whale-watching or fishing. I recently spent a few days in New York City and loved it. I saw things there I don't see anywhere else, so that was very refreshing, even though it's super urban.