“Must be nice.” your friends gush.
“I haven’t taken a vacation in 2 years.” A co-worker says under her breath.
“A vacation for me means I don’t answer the phone.” Your husbands business partner laughs.

Does anyone go on non-working vacations anymore? Vacations, should be the time we forget about the real world and instead we simply make what small time we do take for ourselves, an extension of our work schedule. What are the repercussions? There are many. Below are the Top 10 Reasons you must employ at least 2 weeks of vacation time into your work year.

1. Vacations can reduce stress. Did you know that the two biggest causes of stress are “money” and “work”? No big surprise right? Although the word “stress” seems pretty harmless, it’s an open door to extremely harmful diseases. Namely, heart attack and high blood pressure. Think it can’t happen to you? Statistics offer up a different opinion.

2. Vacations clear the fog. If you’re a work-a-holic like so many of us, chances are you get those days where you just can’t think as clear as you normally do. Believe me, this doesn’t get better unless you make changes. These unproductive days will come to you more often. Because so many of us seem to live for work instead of the other way around, we aren’t getting the rest and more importantly, the sleep, we truly need to be productive. Do you sleep 8-hours every night? Is it real sleep or do you have to use prescription medication to turn off your brain? It’s an absolute fact that we must have 8 hours of sleep a night and anything less has major health implications. In addition to brain fog, diabetes and heart disease have been attributed to lack of sleep. Not to mention aging prematurely.

3. Because you need more money. Say what? When we vacation, our brains relax and we are open to opportunity and creative ideas. We get less headaches and fewer neck and shoulder pains. When we feel good, we see the world differently. In the real world, our routines are to be around the same people in the same places with the same issues on a daily basis. We don’t allow our minds to skinny-dip like we used to. We don’t dream. If our mind is not free to wander, we can’t see true opportunity because we are far too busy working. Vacationing in a different atmosphere helps us dream.

4. Personal Relationships First. Our career will have it’s ups and downs and jobs may come and go but our personal relationships are here to stay, or not. Take a vacation and shut out the real world and spend that time enjoying being with people you love most. We tend to take our relationships with family and friends for granted and sadly enough, these are the people that make our lives whole. Our employer does not.

5. Vacationing Is An Anti-Aging Catalyst. Did you know that people who live in countries where employees are required to take vacations live longer? It’s true! In fact, if this next statistic doesn’t scare you to a Travel Coordinator, what will? In 1980 there were only 10 countries that lived longer than people in the USA. Now, there are people living in 41 countries that live longer than us. Cayman Islands, here I come.

6. To Be An Asset. It is said that job stresses and burn out cost our country over $300 billion each year. The words “I’m just burned out” stop being comical when they cost other people money.

7. You Like Your Job. With job burnout comes incompetence and mistakes that can damage your employment. Have you seen unemployment statistics lately, if you have a job, count your blessings. When you are an employee, the hours you’ve “signed up for” are not your own anymore. These hours are handed to your employer with a mutual agreement that you will be productive for the hours you are paid. Not in that agreement are: spaciness, sick time, brain fog or depression.

8. Health Insurance. If you own a business, chances are very good that you don’t have adequate (or any) health insurance. If you become ill, who is going to pay for that expense? How will you bring in money for your family. No government bailout for you… besides we’re already paying for things we have no control over.

9. Memories Last A Lifetime. We need more of them. Memories create happiness and happiness is healthy. How often do you let your mind run amok and reflect with fond memories on … work? When was the last time you sat on the porch and smiled to yourself as you thought of the traffic jam you were in this morning? Memories are what put a smile on our faces and make us feel human. Take a vacation, create memories.

10. Because We Matter. Fast forward your life for a moment, in the very end, do you think your final wish would be that you could spend more time working, or more time with the people that matter most? In the end, what do you think your friends and family’s final though would be?

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