I'm Sick of Being On Vacation

You know what I’m excited about? A five-day work week.

I’m sick of being on vacation. I know, I know, this honestly could not be anymore #firstworldproblems, it’s disgusting. But it’s a real thing and I want to talk about it.

I had a flexible vacation policy, aka “unlimited” vacation days, at my last job and at my current one. Sounds amazing, right? Guess again. Unlimited vacation days are actually a sneaky way to encourage employees to not take as many days because they don’t have a set amount each year to get through. Remember that and make sure to take your allotted days! Americans do. not. take. enough. vacation. So if you have flexible days, make sure you take off at least 10, but preferably 15 days through the year. Burnout is real, people!

Now, back to hating vacation… This year was the very first year I decided to really take a normal amount of days off (this means 15 days, in my mind). I didn’t realize while scheduling my trips out, but they were all pretty close together from May to July...only a couple days here and there, but that means I basically wasn’t in for a full week from Memorial Day to the week after the 4th of July, which is kinda insane. Now, at my old job, that would have been fine. I’d been there for three years, I knew how to prep for my OOO days to ensure there would be no issues with my absence. However. In a very quick turn of events, at the beginning of May, I had an exciting new role with an awesome new company and new coworkers and bosses I very much wanted to impress. 

All of a sudden, I was learning new processes and tasks, things that I had never worked with before but wanted to master. I don’t like asking for help—not at all—so I was beating myself up for not already knowing how to do everything only a couple weeks in to this new role. You know what didn’t help? Being out every other week. However, I wasn’t going to cancel my trip to see my parents, who I only see a few times a year, or my annual music festival weekend at Firefly. So, I just had to deal with it and work my ass off to ensure nothing slipped through the cracks. Did that mean I was in the office until 10 pm one night before heading down the shore? Why, yes, yes, it did. But I was able to get all my work done through the following Monday so I didn’t have to stress once I was on vacation. Theoretically. 

Because, here’s the thing. I did stress out. All those days I was taking would have been a wonderful break from a job I was extremely burnt out on and felt desperately unappreciated in. However, in this new role, all I wanted was to prove myself and to be successful but, there I was, taking a bunch of days off instead. At least, that’s what it seemed like in my mind. My career is very important to me and I don’t plan on doing anything less than excelling in it. So feeling like I was having to rush or not give my job my all was stressing me out more than any vacation could relax me.

I was sick of going on vacation. I was sick of not being in the office. I was sick of not staring at a computer all day. And maybe that says a lot of not so great things about my work ethic, but I swear I do generally have a good sense of work-life balance! When you move from a role where you know everything about the company, the processes, your coworkers, the brand’s voice and the expectations to knowing absolutely nothing, it’s quite a shock.

Now, here I am. I don’t have another day off until October and you know what? I’m psyched about that. I could be bummed about not having a day off for three more months, but I’m so excited! I learned how to do my job while feeling hurried and stressed out and like the sand was constantly running out in my personal hourglass, so now I feel so much more confident about it (and thrilled that I have a full week to focus on my various tasks). It wasn’t the best way to start a new job but, hey, come October, I’ll probably actually be ready to go on vacation again.