TL;DR:
- It is important to take time away from work over your break.
- Taking this break can have a lot of benefits for your health.
If you have a spring break from school in your part of the world, make sure you take that time for yourself and your family to rest and recharge. For most of us in North America, this break is happening between mid-March and early April. When you return from break, you likely have a few months left in the school year. When you shut work off completely for this week, you will be able to face whatever is ahead in the last few months of the school year.
Travel has picked up again.
For spring break, I took my three kids on a four-day cruise out of Long Beach, CA. As you can imagine, it was the first time we had been able to go on a cruise since 2019. My family usually takes a cruise every 2-3 years. Whether you have a staycation planned or are traveling far and wide as I did, make sure it’s a time where you catch up on the things that make you happy. For me, it was lying in the sun on the pool deck of the cruise ship. Also, spending extra time with my kids during the break was a great way to reconnect. Now we’re excited to plan our next cruise, probably sooner rather than later.
A silver lining of the pandemic should be that people realize how important it is to disconnect from work, have a more balanced work/life approach, and set vacation goals for themselves. Click To TweetThe benefits of time away from work are vast. Here are a few examples of what the break you take can do:
- Improve your mental health. Taking time away from work can help replenish our emotional resources and guard against burnout.
- Lead to increased quality time with family. Scheduled time with family is one way to keep your family relationships in check.
- Fresh perspective. Time away from work and traveling can help you gain perspective and connect with yourself and others.
- You feel more productive when you return.
- You reset your focus, whether it’s for your personal or professional life.
Reasons why some people don’t take their vacation days
Studies have shown there are many reasons employees don’t take time off or fully disconnect from work. The reasons can be: they fear their workload will be too great when they return, they will appear less dedicated at work, or they feel bad they can afford to go on a vacation when others at the organization can’t. There are also many school leaders who brag about taking work home with them and how many hours they stay at the school. In addition, they end up sending emails to staff in the evening or on weekends. This sets a poor example for staff because they may interpret this as expecting them to be answering parent emails at all hours, or they should stay at the school several hours beyond their contract time daily.
In any case, a silver lining of the pandemic should be that people realize how important it is to disconnect from work, have a more balanced work/life approach, and set vacation goals for themselves.
Reference: Taking Time Away from Work
About Dana Goodier
Dr. Dana Goodier has 20 years of experience in education. She has taught World Languages and English and worked as a middle school administrator. She completed her doctorate degree (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership early 2020. For her dissertation, she researched reasons parents were opting their students out of high-stakes testing at middle schools and how that affected the district accreditation rating. She often speaks at conferences, providing educators with techniques to minimize off-task behavior and to increase time on task. She is the host of the “Out of the Trenches” podcast, which features educators who share their stories of resiliency. Follow her on Twitter @danagoodier and visit her website at: www.danagoodier.com
