July 20, 2008
Real Vacation: The Cure for Burn-Out
For those that know me, this year has been a little tougher than years past. I've had a few new personal dilemmas crop up this year while dealing with some frustration over lack of movement in my career. Both of these concerns would alternately feed off each other all day, like a baton passing off between day and night, leaving me exhausted and eventually burned out.
Coupled with the longest part of the work year (the space between New Years and Memorial day with no company holidays), my confidence and attitude began to wither away. By March I was starting to get snippy with co-workers and my wife. By April I had moved past anger into apathy about work (my personal life was making a large shift then, more on that on another blog post). When May and June rolled around, I was distracted and losing focus both at work and home. I was near complete burn-out.
In the middle of June, I finally took a vacation. I took ten days off of work and stacked a trip with my best friend with a getaway for my anniversary with my wife. Both vacations were very low-key and didn't require much planning or structure, just time spent relaxing. Never before in my life had I needed a vacation more, and I didn't even know it until two days after my trip started.
Work/Life Equation
Five years ago, the equation for time off would sync up with family trips, holidays, and special events. I would save and spend my vacation time to address work or family socializing I wouldn't have time to do after work or on weekends. But over those five years, my alone/quiet time had dissipated. Eventually, I was switching from web guy, to dad/husband, back to web guy with only some sleep in between.
Because the work/life balance increasingly sliding into work/work, I felt I needed to dedicate more time to both. So vacation could wait, and wait. And wait. I would take a three-day weekend here or there, but it was more so I could catch up on tasks, not relax.
This need to address both my work and home life constantly and continuously led to near complete burn-out. I was blind to what my old boss had always warned me of:
When workload and stress are at there highest (either personally or professionally) its even more imperative that one breaks away and finds time to relax and find their center.
I'm now on my second break/vacation. in two months Sitting on a bridge over a creek in Estes Park, drinking coffee and writing this entry. I feel utterly relaxed, while also energized. My mind is alive again, interested and excited for the future. Positive thinking once again reigns over my ideas and I'm ready to take on the world.
All because I took a real vacation.
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- Inspired
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