Work-Life Balance: Be off during the time off

Most young professionals face the struggle to create balance. 

You want to make it before 40 and retire early and so you have to work your shins off to make all that money. At the same time, you don't want to be 40 and rich with no real relationships in your life.

So you struggle...to juggle it all.

Of all the things we put down as a guide to creating balance - keeping in touch, eating healthy, exercising et al - I think that the most solid would be to take time off regularly and BE OFF during time off.

So if you are going to have an out-of-office responder and still flip through your emails on your mobile device, what's the point? If you go on vacation and the whole time you are flipping through your phone or laptop to see what stories are trending and what's going on in your business or social sphere, what's the point?

Admittedly, emergencies could arise and it is only wise to be reachable in case of an Extreme Emergency, however, I have come up with a list of what it means to take time off.

1. Be Present and Involved

The people/person you are on vacation with should be top priority. Talk to them, laugh with them, argue with them, notice them, study them, cook for them....whatever it is, just make them the most important thing on your daily mental to-do list through the period.

2. Ignore the virtual folk

Let's face it. If a person was that important to you, that person would have your personal phone number and/or your address to reach you. A lot of the people we love virtually will always just be that...virtual people. If you disappear for a few weeks, they will still be there. If they are not, you will find new ones.

3. Let it be known

Just so that you don't feel guilty for increasing people's stress levels when they wonder about your absence, let it be known that you are going on a break.

4. Dare. Take Risks.

I don't know what a vacation is if you don't do something you have never done before...jump in the ocean naked, visit a fortune teller, enter a hunted house, make palm oil in the local way, go farming with a hoe. Time off should give you memories that make you smile, long after the break is over.

And now that I have come up with this list, I will proceed to ensure I stick to it the next time I have a break.

Photo Credit:

hobingpost.com