Last day of the trip

Tomorrow, Zach and I fly to London so we can catch our morning flight home on Wednesday. I fly back to Seattle on Thursday and have the weekend to get my body clock turned around before work starts back on Monday.

This is the first three-week vacation I've ever taken. Ever. In my life. And I'm nearly 50. The first TWO week vacation I ever took was three years ago when I last toured Europe. Sad, huh? It takes a 10 hour flight to make me give up the obsessive need to check emails on my phone (mine doesn't work here) and actually enjoy time off. At home, although I often take 3 and 4-day weekends, I never stop checking email, and so never really stop being at work. One emailed crisis is enough to ruin any hope of downtime, and for some reason, there is ALWAYS a crisis.

This is, unfortunately, the norm for Americans.

Europeans think we are crazy. They get 5 weeks and upwards each year, and (unlike us) they actually take it. We get 2-3 weeks and most of us end up losing it because we never use it.

Perhaps we really are crazy.

What is it about American culture that makes us so willing to sacrifice our health, time with our families, and all the other benefits of this, well, benefit? I read somewhere that many of us won't take vacation (without checking email) because we are worried the office will discover they can do without us. For myself, I can honestly say the only reason I've been able to stand being offline from work these past three weeks is because I have two job interviews lined up when I return. I guess I suffer from that worry as well. That's really sad. Is our culture that cutthroat?

When did working 55-hour weeks and never taking time off become not only the norm, but acceptable? I mean, let's face it - the vast majority of us are not working at jobs where being absent would cause world economic collapse or the death of millions. Like most of us, I'm buried in the bowels of a corporate behemoth, a cog in a large machine, and one that can be replaced or worked around if it's not there. That's the sad truth. Most of us aren't really that necessary, but I guess we prefer to believe that we are - so we behave as though every crisis was of apocalyptic proportions, because it makes us important as the saviour.

So here's my resolution:
1. When something "bad" happens at work, I will retain my sense of proportion and not respond as though armageddon was upon us.
2. I will become to voice of reason for my co-workers, encouraging them to find balance in their responses to "crises"
3. When I am at work, I will work hard, When I take time off, I will TAKE TIME OFF.

Ultimately, unless you ARE one of those few whose personal presence at work, all the time, really does impact millions or the fate of the universe (and if you are, I pity you), then there's no reason to behave as if you were. All of us are important - but for most of us that importance isn't at work. It's our family, our kids, our community work, or elsewhere.

Find your "elsewhere" and let work just be work.