Why You Should Still Take Time Off Even If You're Working from Home

Today's paid time off looks very different than it has in past years. These days it seems hard to find a justifiable reason to take a vacation when you can't actually go anywhere. In a normal world, full-time workers will save and stack valuable days off for a special occasion or a planned trip, but now it's been nearly a year since either of those has been feasible. 

However, without a real reason to take a day off and in light of a particularly trying set of current events, we all need and deserve a vacation, but most people aren't taking time off. At the beginning of quarantine, I found myself in the same boat. Why would I take a day off from working from home when I'm just going to sit at home anyway?

And I definitely wasn't the only one; According to a survey conducted by staffing agency in May, 37% of professionals planned to save their vacation days for later in the year in hopes of travel hopefully being put back on the table.

The result? Burnout.

What Burnout at the Peak of Quarantine Looked Like

Hint: it wasn't pretty.

A poll conducted by Eagle Hil Consulting found 45% of just over 1,000 U.S. workers experienced burnout this past April. It became so prevalent in the years before COVID-19 that the World Health Organization classified burnout as a "syndrome" in May of 2019, tying it to "chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed."  

However, there's a unique COVID-19 spin on WHO's May definition. A lot of the factors behind COVID-19 workplace burnout had nothing to do with the workplace at all... it was more the lack thereof.

We had to move our entire workspaces into our homes, dealing with makeshift desks, pets, and around-the-clock childcare for kids who no longer could go to school PLUS all of our day-to-day work tasks. Just one of these things could put a lot of additional strain on a person, let alone all of them. 

With those factors all in mind, it's highly likely that everyone at this point just needs a BREAK. 

4 Reasons to Take a Day Off That Aren't a Vacation

Even if you can't make travel plans, you can still keep taking a day off, or a long weekend, on the table. Here are a few things you can do on your days off that don't include big travel plans. 

1. Give Back to the Community

At this point in the COVID era, it's safe to admit that times have been tough, for some more than others. Although the U.S. unemployment rate has been steadily falling from its May peak of 16%, it still sits at about 8.4% as of the end of August, which is twice as high as it was in February. 

As a result, people are struggling; Feeding a family could be challenging, as is paying rent, especially when living paycheck-to-paycheck. Take a day to figure out how you can give back, whether it's a donation, picking up groceries or prescriptions for the at-risk population, or donating face masks to the homeless population with nowhere to safely quarantine. 

2. Have a Self-care Day

Self-care can mean something different to just about everyone; For me, it could involve a bottle of wine, a sweet treat, my favorite Netflix show, or maybe even a visit to my local puppy store to play with the puppies without the commitment of picking up after them (even though I will admit that I'm guilty of becoming a quarantine puppy parent, but let's not dwell). 

Whatever self-care means to you, give yourself a whole day of it. You can unwind, make your biggest stressor what you'll do when you finally roll out of bed, and refresh yourself so that when you do return to work, you're ready to tackle it head-on and be the boss we all know you're capable of being.

3. Get Outside

Even as the weather cools down as summer turns to fall, going outside for a hike, a walk, or even just curling up under a tree with a good book is a great way to spend some time away from your desk. The CDC's website cites physical activity as a way to reduce stress and is even shown to prevent diseases like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease (maybe even a certain pandemic, since Harvard Medical School says it boosts your immune system). 

Not to mention just getting outside your own four walls makes quarantine feel a little less lonely.

4. Make Something

You can make just about anything, from baking a cake to a building a new bookshelf to store all of your new quarantine reads, but having ownership over something is rewarding and the process can be just as fun. With websites like Masterclass literally at your fingertips, making a semi-functional DIY project has never been easier. 

Image Credit: Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash