Along with your luggage, are you carrying any guilt or stress on your holidays? 🎒 🏖

Boundaries are important at work - just as in our personal lives they help protect our well-being and create space. One boundary where work and home clearly blur the lines are holidays - or vacations as us North Americans say. As we hit our stride in summer I'm calling on workers everywhere to make the most of any holiday they have planned by actually switching off. For so many of my corporate years I rolled days over, never taking my full allowance. I researched the stats and every one I found cites more than 60% of workers do not take their full annual leave entitlement. 60+%! 🤯 When I did take the time off, I managed my holiday schedule around what was important at work. I was on emails. I attended calls. Sure, I enjoyed my time off and did focus on resetting and restoring my energy and focus...but not fully and intentionally enough. Work was more than at the back of my mind as every day saw some intrusion. So if you have some days off planned I will provocatively ask you to consider whether you should be thinking about really focusing on your time and needs, rather than those of your company.

In recent years I've come to realise that the time focusing on what I enjoy, my family and friends and just the slowing of my pace is absolutely critical to keeping me at my best when I'm back at work. I've also reframed holidays like this: I negotiated my package and holidays were part of it. Their inclusion in my contract makes them an entitlement. I wouldn't give back a little of my salary each month, so why should I not (gratefully and gleefully) take my annual leave in full?

Have a fantastic and restorative time...whenever you decide to take your well deserved break!