Just when you have given up on Facebook and it’s inane postings about friends needing a bow tie or a box of bees for their barns, farms, or castles, and you are about to delete your profile for the 50th time, you suddenly read a post and the comments that follow it and you think, OK, so maybe there is some redeeming quality here after all. The post that saved my account this week:
“The longer you have been on vacation, the harder it is to get back to work.”
“No s**t”
There is a great deal of truth in this posting, but why is that the case? Shouldn’t we actually enjoy our jobs? Shouldn’t each and every day be like the best green vacation ever?
Now, if you are like most, it is very unlikely that your job is like the best green vacation ever, even if you run green vacations for a living. Granted, I’d like to be miserable running eco-adventures all over the globe, even if I can see how even that can become old after a while. But then again, isn’t that the very point that vacations are trying to make? Make the most out of the time you have away from you job. Really get out there and live your life, as opposed to doing the same old thing each and every day. Climb that mountain, and when you get back to the office, pretend that mountain of paperwork on your desk is that same mountain you were just trekking across on your green eco vacation. It’ll make getting back into the daily grind a little more fun, while it will probably also make you vacation sick.
Yes, I said vacation sick. What on earth is that, you ask? It’s like being home sick, but the focus of your longing is the amazing green vacation you were on. It is a natural side-effect of travel for those of us who enjoy travel and would rather travel than do anything else. You know who you are. You are the ones who are always looking for work that will actually pay you to travel. Sadly, those jobs aren’t as numerous as we may like. I mean, how many photographers does National Geographic really need? And somehow, Globe Trekker seems to be doing very well with the travelers they currently have on staff, and while we may secretly hope that they really do get lost out in the middle of nowhere, we know it would be tragic and we would miss them if it really did happen. But we keep trying and looking because maybe, just maybe, our chance will come. Maybe that is no longer vacation sick but sick and in need of a vacation.
When vacation sickness gets to be too acute, there is only one thing to do: take a mini vacation. Easier said than done? You might be surprised how little vacation time you really need to get a fix that will make you feel better. No, really. Take a 3 day weekend, starting on a Friday, and head out to your favorite local green spa and you’ll be good to go by the time you head back to the office on Monday. And suppose you don’t have such a favorite spot or want to try some place new? No problem, head over to Ecotripper.com. There you’ll be able to find exactly what you are looking for, be it around the corner or across town.
What happens when these short trips no longer work and they start to bleed into each other? At that point, you simply need to pack up and head out for a much longer trip. It ma mean sucking it up for a few months so you can afford to be away from your desk for a couple weeks, but when you have to go, to simply have to get out there and climb something, or explore new parts of the globe, and not just the office down the hall. And to help avoid the recurrence of vacation sickness, really enjoy each and every day of your vacation so that you will have plenty of memories to take back to work with you which will help make the mundane less so. Pull your work life into your fin green traveling life and you’ll be a happier, more productive employee, making it easier to say, “Look, I need to get out of town for a couple weeks to recharge,” and actually being able to get away with it, even if you aren’t the fortunate few who get paid to travel.
Travel green. Pass it on.
