Thursday, August 21, 2008

The Ethics Of Taking A Vacation


I just returned from a week-long vacation to Florida with my family this past weekend. It was a great time. Probably the best part of the trip for me was simply doing nothing. No bills to pay. No lawn to mow. No "to do" lists to review. Just being.

The reason this is so great to me is because I don't relax well when I am at home. It seems I always find something that "needs" to be done. I have been accused of not being a human "being" but rather a human "doing." This can have its advantages but I also view it as a weakness as I can get burned out. As a result, I love vacations because it helps me to get away from all that.

There are many who are so busy that they don't feel they can take a vacation. Or they fear that their business will suffer if they are away. They might even feel guilty for taking a vacation.

I recently read a very good article which actually makes the claim that it is our ethical responsibility to take a vacation. The article claims that taking time out to recharge your batteries will make you and your company better. I agree with the author. Now I need to practice it more often by finding more frequent down time in my life.

2 comments:

Dick and Brigitte Velich said...

You are so right. I always took all my vacation time and then some. I heard other countries have longer paid vacation times before as the artical said. Retirement is the ultimate vacation. Look forward to it and go as soon as you can. You will know when the time is right. Get out and enjoy all that God has created. Check out our blog http://dickandbrigitteontheroad.blogspot.com/ for the latest trip we took and had Lindsey with us. Anyway you have a beautiful family.
Take care, Dick............

Jim Lange said...

Thanks Dick! Vacations are awesome! However, I think we ought to be finding time to recharge and rest on a regular basis, not just on vacation--something difficult to do. God is working on me in this regard!