Recovering is not the same as vacation
Between the ongoing global pandemic and the Delta variant, the situation in Afghanistan, Hurricane Ida hitting Louisiana, as well as all of the usual horrors of the world, vacation feels like the last thing to be thinking about.
The fact is, in the midst of our team's August "retreat month" where our team puts a pause on external facilitation, meetings or calls, I just returned from a 2.5 week "vacation."
Yeah, those scare quotes are no joke.
What even is "relaxing" in a global pandemic? I feel like I've completely forgotten how.
Yet I'm also aware of the privilege of being able to get away, getting into nature, getting to spend time with my family by the pool and the lake, and getting a change of scene.
The last day of my vacation, I finally did mostly put away my work and I spent the day by the lake reading, swimming and lying in the sun. It felt like that should have been the FIRST day of my vacation.
And what I realized, especially after talking to one of my team members who had a similar experience, is that recovery is not the same as vacation.
It took me most of my "vacation" just to recover from all of the stress and pressures of the last year.
And I can see why, in our capitalist and workaholic culture where we are socialized and pressured to believe that our worth and value is related to our productivity, it can sometimes seem easier not to take vacation.
It was stressful, trying to balance work and vacation, and in some ways it has been a relief to return to my life in Brooklyn that is set up with things like childcare and my office so that I actually can work without trying to squeeze it into a time when I'm not meant to be working.
But of course, that's not the answer. It can't be the answer.
The thing is, when we work RIGHT UP TO OUR VACATION, and often we are working overtime just to get everything done before we go on vacation, our vacation is spent recovering or finishing up those things we didn't get to finish before we left. Especially now when we are all much more accustomed to working remote, or being expected to work remote, the lines are seriously blurred.
For me, between finishing up some things on a challenging project and getting my kids ready for camp, not to mention the work that goes into packing up and going on vacation, it wasn't until three and a half weeks into "retreat month" that I could even get anywhere close to feeling like I could come up for air.
I think the key here from an organizational perspective is that we need to help ourselves and each other and our teams go on vacation. This means encouraging people to take their vacation time as well as taking it ourselves, model truly taking a step back if we can (and not joining calls and emailing from vacation) but it also means planning work and workloads not just so someone's meetings and calls are "covered" while they are away, but also so there is a stepping down of work beforehand, and a ramping up after.
In the future, I think what we're going to try on the CCI team is no external workshop facilitation or meetings the week before as well as the week after vacation. That may not sound feasible or be feasible for everyone but for organizations that are committed to at least trying to create a more supportive and inclusive work environment, it's something to consider.
How did vacation time for you and your team work out for you this year? What would a more equitable and inclusive approach to vacation time look like?
Banner photo by Erwan Hesry on Unsplash
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