Let’s Talk Taking Time Off From Work

If you feel like you’re ready to throw your laptop out the window everyday, I think it’s time you take a day off. At that point you’ve got to fully unplug and take a step back. The more you overwork yourself and not unplug, the longer you’ll feel like breaking your laptop in half (definitely not something you want to do lol).

Whether it be that you’ve taken a day off as a personal day, you being sick, vacationing with friends or family, or have a workshop you need to attend, we all tend to feel extremely guilty. We don’t want the process of work to be screwed up or slowed down just because we have take a day off.

Whichhh is why sometimes we force ourselves to work even on days where we mentally/physically cannot, even though we are able to taken a day off.

But listen, the point of life is not to work. Work has to be part of it because practically speaking we do need to survive and earn a living, but your day off is your day off. Your life should not revolve around work; it is a PART of it.

Of course I’m not telling you to take a day off every other day, but if you really want to go visit your family abroad or want to go on that solo trip of yours, take the week or a few days off. Work will continue, but some experiences can’t wait. There's no need to feel guilty for making yourself happy, for ticking off experiences in your bucket list. Your day off is your day off, if you have taken the full day off, do what you want to do.

If you are taking a week off to go to the UK, you don’t need to explain yourself that you’ve been wanting to go for a long time and haven’t been able to have any days to go. No need to explain that your father or child is sick so you need to take a day off to care for them. As long as you inform your manager (or to whomever you report days off to) you don’t need to over explain.

If the company has given you PTO, they’ve given them to you for a reason. Not to just keep collecting them like your savings account, hun.

You have a life outside of work. Do not make work your number 1 thing you think about every minute. Go hang out with friends, your partner, eat out, go on vacations. There’s more to life than just work. Your day off, is your day off. You choose how you'd like to spend it.