Your unused vacation time
At what cost do we sacrifice play, rest and leisure for professional goals?
Issue #39
Hi all —
When I left a job in California after four years, I cashed out on something like six weeks of unused vacation time. When I left another job in Chicago after about three years, it was something like four weeks of unused vacation time.
Oh, pre-pandemic me.
I look back at those months of unused vacation in such a different way these days. What a waste! Why didn’t I use it? Of course we need rest for our bodies and minds. But also, as Harvard Business Review reports, data backs up the benefits of taking a break: “Statistically, taking more vacation results in greater success at work as well as lower stress and more happiness at work and home.”
And as the pandemic has reiterated: Anyone with the privilege of sick leave who used to pride themselves on never taking a sick day… Well, that’s really nothing to be proud of, unless one wants the title of “Super-Spreader of the Month.” (Though sick leave is of course sadly still not a benefit everyone gets.)
So when I saw mental health professional and advice columnist Sahaj Kaur Kohli’s Instagram post this week, it struck a chord as we enter the summer vacation season. As Kohli writes, the struggles of incorporating play, rest or leisure for some folks is real. I also believe those struggles are often amplified for many immigrants and children of immigrants, who have been driven to prioritize professional success at any cost.
So here’s to using up all your vacation time in 2022 — whether for staycations or (safely) traveling this beautiful planet.
On another note:
A good read on the first Patel Brothers Indian grocery store in the U.S. in Chicago. Read on NBC Asian America.
Taco Bell’s Mexican Pizza is back and many Brown people are excited. But it’s been so popular, it’s out of stock already! Read on USA Today. (I tried it, and reader: It was OK.)
Google canceled a talk to employees about caste bias, even though similar talks have been held at Microsoft, Salesforce, Airbnb, Netflix and Adobe. Read on The Washington Post.
Hope you have a great (and restful!) weekend.
Thanks for joining the conversation,
Vignesh Ramachandran (@VigneshR)
Co-founder of Red, White and Brown Media
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