A 2-Week Vacation: The Perfect Reset for Your Mind, Body, and Soul

On May 7th, my wife and I welcomed our daughter into the world. We are grateful for the support of my employer Merkle, which provides employees with 16 weeks of parental leave. In the past 10 years, I have only taken two weeks off once when my son was born which was stressful in itself as a new parent. The second time around, I was surprised by the positive impact that this extended time off has had on my mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. I feel more refreshed and focused than ever before, and I am excited to return to work with a renewed sense of purpose.

When I started my career, I was given two weeks of vacation. I saved it.

I was young and didn’t know how to plan. I was afraid I would miss out on something if I didn’t have my vacation time to rely on. So I saved it, and by the end of the year, I usually had about 1.5 weeks left. I might take a day here and there, but mostly I just relied on the holiday calendar.

A few years into my career, my vacation time was increased to three weeks.

This provided more flexibility but by that time habits had formed, and my company had switched to an unlimited vacation policy. As research has shown, this often leads to people taking less time off. I was no exception. I didn’t have the fear of missing out on a last-minute trip, but I also didn’t have the fear of losing my vacation at the end of the year. I liked working, and I thought all I needed was a break of a day or two every now and then.

I got used to this pattern, and for the most part thought it worked well for me.

Here are a few things I’ve learned that may help encourage you to take extended time off.

1. You should try taking extended time off at least once.
   • If you have never done it, I would encourage you to try it. The benefits are a little abstract, per Alina health. Things like lower stress, more motivation, and a better outlook on life. Not really things that are highly empirical for an analyst, nor could I be convinced prior that I really needed it.
2. I had adjusted to a lower level of creativity and mental health.
   • As humans we are highly adaptable. Feeling “good” is relative and often biased by recent events. If you just got off a terrible project, and are now on something marginally better, you may be “happy” with the improvement. This isn’t to say the grass is always greener, but what I thought was working for me may not have been best. I feel more motivated and creative after just wo weeks than I did when I thought I was at my “best” previously.
3. I really enjoyed just being Home.
   • Spending time at home has been hugely helpful. Previously all my vacation was spent “getting away” or seeing family. Both of which, can be rejuvenating but is often pretty stressful and require a lot of travel. Most of the time I feel I need a vacation from the vacation. Being home has really allowed me a lot of quality time with my 2-year-old son, as well as accomplishing things I’ve “always wanted to get to”. Just getting things off the list helps me feel productive and significantly lowers stress as well.
4. No one encourages extended time off.
   • Your employers aren’t going to push for you to take an extended vacation. By proxy, if you are out, it does impact on those you work with and requires extra effort and planning. This doesn’t mean it isn’t good for you, it means you need to plan to take longer periods of time. I had to make rules for myself in terms of how much vacation I was planning to take, and I will be adding at least 1 extended vacation every couple of years. Planning to take a longer period off will also help you improve documentation and knowledge sharing as you need to be sure your team can keep the train moving while you are out.
5. I didn’t trust my team enough.
   • For some people taking time off is easy, but for others like me, there is stress involved with “letting work pile up”. You feel like if you aren’t there things won’t get done and you will return with more work leading to more stress. I realized I was being a little selfish in my work. Taking my parental leave, had me realize that I needed to get better at transitioning work. I’m driven by efficiency, so letting someone learn a task usually isn’t the fastest or easiest. I know my team is great and very capable. I would be glad to step in for them as they are for me, and overall, I think it will help our team be more cohesive and effective in the long run.
6. I really was more motivated to get back to work.
   • I still have the rest of my leave, which I’m very thankful for to help my wife and spend a summer with my children. But after two weeks I feel refreshed, and ready to come back. I think this outlook would really help me get out of the monotony of the day to day to bring energy upon return and I would encourage my entire team to do the same.

I hope this encourages you to consider taking extra time off this year, and really consider taking a significant chunk at some point in your career. You may learn a lot about yourself, and both you and your employer will benefit.