A Working Holiday

I’ll set the scene: Feb half term, ‘holiday’.

Definition: holiday - an extended period of leisure and recreation, especially one spent away from home.

Which causes more stress - being away from home and knowing the backlash you’ll return to or spending time whilst on holiday, firefighting emails etc?

As a child I remember my father being poorly on the rare UK based holidays we managed to take. I now understand the reasons behind these ailments, the pre holiday stress seeping through his veins along with the post holiday anxiety of what he would return to having genuinely been on ‘holiday’ for a full week (bearing in mind this was pre emails, so think piles of unopened mail and a desk covered in postit notes).

If I didn’t have the technology allowing me to work in the evenings, surrounded by Barbies and Disney DVD’s, then I wouldn’t be here, on ‘holiday’, because the post January rush workload simply wouldn’t allow it.

It’s all about balance at the end of the day and, for me, flexibility is key. My only fear is the long term consequences this 24/7 switched on life will present, I guess only time will tell.

What are your views on this modern day juggling act? Are we doomed by the fact that we never switch off or lucky to have the option of alleviating the backlog?