The end of the year is approaching. Do you have unused vacation time? If so, I hope you will take the time off that you deserve. Periodic rest is important, no matter what your job. While Sabbath is about taking a weekly break from work, it is also about taking longer breaks one or two times per year.
A lot of people don’t use all the vacation time they earn. Almost half of 730 executives in the United States who responded to a 2003 survey by Management Recruiters International said they did not expect to use their vacation time that year. Also in 2003, Expedia.com estimated Americans piled up $21 billion in unused vacation time. In 2004, a Harris Interactive survey showed 30 percent of employed Americans gave up vacation days.
“The idea of somebody going away for two weeks is really becoming a thing of the past,” a spokesperson for the American Automobile Association told the New York Times in an article I saw. “It’s kind of sad, really, that people can’t seem to leave their jobs anymore.”
Laws in the United States do not require companies to give employees paid time off. Vacation policies in American companies typically equate to 10 or 15 days off per year. American workers fortunate enough to get the 10 federal holidays off, end up with 20 to 25 days off per year, compared with our French counterparts, who typically get 40 days off, or Japanese workers, who get 35 days off.
Planning for vacations is as important as planning workflow. Even though you may be entitled to a vacation, you have to take deliberate steps to assure you get the time off. Unceasing work easily devolves into drudgery. Don’t allow yourself to work like the animals. Be the human that God wants you to be by regularly honoring the Sabbath with rest.
While the commercial world is an important theater in the drama of life, it is not the only show in town. Obligations to work colleagues and customers should be considered in the context of obligations to spouse, children, relatives and neighbors. Weekends away from the workplace provide valuable rest; annual or semi-annual rests of a week or more have further rejuvenating effect.
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