How to force yourself into a 5 day vacation (as long as you start on Saturday)

This isn't really a recommendation, but come on, folks, it's the American way.  They only way we can force ourselves into some down time is by, that's right, GETTING THE FLU.  I haven't had it in seven years, and the exact reason why I even got sick was because I WASN'T taking a vacation.  I was treading water, barely above the surface, floating on my back to save energy and gasping for air, until I couldn't work anymore, my body shut down, looked me in the eye and simply said, "F-YOU.  I'M DONE WITH YOU.  NOW DEAL WITH IT."  And if you're lucky (depending on your level of desperation for a day off), you get to hang on to a fever for five days, forcing you to stay home (I actually could have worked with the fever; as a matter of fact, I WAS working with the fever.  The phone never stopped ringing, the emails continued, the text messages).  The doctor told me (after my third day of fever), that the state of New York recommends that I take the entire week off.  Come on, everybody, what is our conditioned response?  Are you embarrassed to admit it?  Say it, say it loud, say it proud:  I CAN'T TAKE OFF FOR A WHOLE WEEK!  Yup, that's what I said.  That was a Monday night.  She told me I would be considered contagious until 24 hours after my fever broke.  So Wednesday morning it broke, and Thursday I was back to work.  And I felt like shit.  And by all accounts, I looked like shit.  People from corporate (the entire goddamned corporate office is visiting our location for what feels like the next six years) were like, "what the hell are you doing here?"  And trust me, I don't work for a compassionate company.  They could give a rat's ass about my health  (or anybody else's, for that matter).  This was coming from a guy who, 15 minutes after we shut down a facility and told everyone in two weeks they will have lost their jobs, that they need to get back to work.  At that moment, I was consoling a 55 year old man, crying at the prospect of being unemployed in a city voted one of the "saddest cities" in the country.  But he said I looked like shit.  So I must have looked pretty bad.

So that was my first vacation this year (actually, I spent the first week of my newborn's son life in the NICU earlier this year, so that was my first vacation).  Does this sound familiar?  I'm sure it does.  Nobody works like we Americans work.  This doesn't mean we're more productive, or that we work harder than anyone else; my experience in management has been quite the opposite.  But yet we are getting our arses handed to us by much of the industrialized world.  We all must know that this isn't sustainable.  And it's a recipe for disaster if you want to accomplish anything outside of work (in my case, and hopefully yours, to build a business on the side).  Is it a sense of pride for us, to brag that we work more than anyone else?  For what?  Are we that unhappy at home that we feel the need to be at work so much?  Not me.  I love my home life.  You should too.  And if you don't, you better think about changing it somehow.  But I'm not prepared to write about that right now..

Take the time.  Take a vacation.  Go somewhere that you've never been.  It doesn't have to be far away.  But if you can travel, do it.  Get away.  Experience a different culture.  Meet new people. Ask questions about their lives.  Eat their food.  Share a meal with strangers. See how they live, and appreciate your life.  Or strive for the life that they have if their happiness doesn't mirror your own.  Then go home. Meditate.  Don't drink so much (I haven't abstained completely from alcohol, but I've cut my consumption to a glass of wine or a beer a week (you'll be surprised how good it feels-you don't need it as much as you think you do).  And the wet sand turning to cement on your shoulders will slowly wash away, and you will be lighter.  And you will think straighter.  And you will dream lucidly.  And your idea muscle won't feel so impotent.  And you will help more people, not because you have to, but because you want to.  You won't reprimand people with the intent of firing them, but rather to help them improve their performance and improve their lives outside of the shithole you work in (like I do).  Help somebody get out and move on.  On THEIR terms.  Because for every person you help achieve their goals, through action and encouragement, you will be that much closer to achieving yours.  Stop hanging on to people.  Set them free, to pursue their dreams.  At work, at love, and in life.  Most of us don't want to do what we do all day long.  That is why we strive for freedom.  That is why I write this blog.  So help others escape and unlock their potential.  And with any luck you will discover yours.  And I'll discover mine.  And I'll have to find something else to write about.