Can you guess what it is? I am sure you know what it is. I am sure you have an inkling. It’s summer vacation. Ooh, ooh, baby girl. It’s summer vacation. Why is a three-month break for summer and a one month break during winter perceived as essential for young people but not for adults? It is essential for adults, we just like to pretend it’s not.
Of course if everyone got summer break then the whole world would stop functioning. People still need to work during summer but the point is adults need long vacations and not just the three days your company is willing to let you take off. After 22 years of summer vacations, they just get taken away. That’s it. You’ll never get them back. As they were happening you probably didn’t even realize they were some of the most important moments or could have been some of the most important moments in your life.
I’ve been out of college for two years now and when it starts getting warmer I start getting more excited. I can feel that summer is coming but then I have to remind myself that I’ll be spending most of my days in an office with no windows. I love the sun so being concealed from it is a real downer for me. Don’t get my wrong, having a job is a really big deal to me but breaks are necessary. In fact in most developed countries vacation days are government mandated, however in the United States 0 vacation days are mandatory.
Government Mandated Vacation Days By Country
Australia – 20
Austria – 22
Belgium – 20
Canada – 10
Denmark – 25
Finland – 25
France – 30
Germany – 24
Greece – 20
Ireland – 20
Italy – 20
Japan – 10
Netherlands – 20
New Zealand – 20
Norway – 25
Portugal – 22
Spain – 22
Sweden – 25
UK – 20
US – 0
The United States has the least average vacation days with 13 paid vacation days whereas the United Kingdom has 28, Germany has 35, Canada 26, France 37 and Italy 42. There have been numerous studies and accounts that found that countries with more vacation days tend to be generally happier than countries with less. The Center for Politics and Economy Research found that it’s low-wage, part-time and lower level positions that receive the least vacation days. That means us millennials basically. However, in every other developed nation paid vacation days (mind you this doesn’t include the many paid holidays they receive) are distributed more evenly. Any attempts to give U.S. workers more vacation days have failed.
Vacations are important for three reasons. Firstly, you get to have a new experience. You’ll learn more about yourself during a week in South Africa than in a month in front of your computer in your bedroom. Having new experiences makes you a more cultured person, which in turn makes you a more intellectual person as you make new associations and connections, this ultimately makes you a better employee with a fresher perspective on things. Secondly, it hits the reset button on your job. When you are so engrossed in something it makes it more difficult to see things objectively and that can ultimately make you useless. If your job is to always bring something new to the table, how can you think differently when you experience the same cycle of events everyday? Lastly, having distance from work makes you excited to work. By the time summer vacation is over, I was exhausted of lounging around and drinking too much. I was excited to go back to school, to learn and to be productive. Vacations make you better at your job.
Vacations are going to be what you remember. I cannot remember every time I brushed my teeth in the morning because that experience is so non-unique and repetitive that the brain actually discards these memories it doesn’t need. Looking back at your life, what made you happy, what made you excited, what made you proud to be alive were the moments you shared with other people, most of that happens outside of work.
After graduation you will be working almost everyday of your life. Most of your life will be spent at work, secondly it will be sleeping, lastly it will actually be enjoying the fruits of your labor. Do not take your summer vacation for granted. It’s important. It’s pivotal. Go out and do something. Volunteer, go abroad, backpack, be a camp counselor, get a summer job with a ton of your friends, do something. Everything is temporary don’t let the moment pass.
[Image Via. Shutterstock/Syda Productions]
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