Take a Break!

Posted by Healthful Elements Staff

This post is an installment in our 52 Health Hinges series. Remember, “Small hinges swing big doors.”

According to a study performed by Oxford Economics (in September and October 2013), over 40 percent of American workers who receive the benefit of paid time off (PTO) finished the year with unused time off.

A report from Nielsen Consumer Research found similar statistics, finding that 52 percent of people did NOT take all their paid vacation days in the past year, leaving an average of 7.2 days unused.

This is nuts.

Hingers, you better not be a part of this club. Not this year.

Believe me, I used to be a card-holding member. Then I realized that I wasn’t that important, and nobody was stopping me from using my time off but me. I stopped being a martyr, created boundaries, and got out of the office.

What happened? Life went on. My stress reduced, and dare I say that I even became a nicer person to be around?

There are lots of reasons why using your time off is beneficial, but I’m only interested in one. You. Give your adrenals a break and take some time off.

Besides, as the saying goes, “If you don’t make time for wellness, you’ll be forced to make time for illness.”

That’s all.

Now I’ll leave you to go plan some time off.

Posted by Healthful Elements Staff

Comments

Some people might deprive themselves of their due holidays, or anything else, in an effort to appear conscientious, and may even out-do everybody else in this deprivation, in an unconscious hope of receiving recognition and apprectiation from others.  But it is a "holier than thou" attitude that serves no-one, least of all the persons doing this to themselves.  The workplace culture can contribute to this race, where people are vying with each other for top-spot on the productivity ratings.  Therefore, I completely agree with Jill.

Hear, hear.

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