Have you ever felt guilty about going on vacation?  I know I have.  Americans are getting to be an odd culture of over-worked people who are SO stressed out that we might drop dead or ‘snap’ at any moment.  Vacation guilt is an interesting concept I have been reading about…while I was on vacation.

Our family on the coast of Connecticut.

We are the only advanced economy that does not guarantee its workers a paid vacation.  Those of us who do get vacation days often don’t use them all.  A recent survey found that workers were only taking 85% of their vacation days.  Many respondents in the same survey said that cost was prohibiting them from taking a vacation, but listed their financial situation as “solid” or “good.”  We treat vacation as a luxury and not a healthy part of balanced living.

As you probably guessed, there are health consequences for skipping vacation.  Men who skipped vacation for five years were 30% more likely to have a heart attack than those who took one week off a year.  A separate study found that women who took a vacation every six years or less were eight times more likely to develop coronary problems.  Got your bags packed yet?

All research indicated that the destination of your vacation didn’t need to be some exotic, remote locale.  A simple camping trip, or other low-cost vacation will do the trick.  I couldn’t find any health studies about ‘stay-cations’ because the concept is so new, but I assume they would be beneficial to our health and help us recharge if we can manage to disconnect from our day to day life.

There are benefits to getting away from our familiar surroundings.  Dr. Alison Gopnik has studied the cognitive development of babies extensively.  She has found that most adults can gain a cognitive and creative boost, similar to that of a child experiencing things for the first time, when we travel and place ourselves in unfamiliar surroundings.  I don’t know about you but I typically come back from vacation fueled up with a ton of new ideas for work, home and other ventures.

If you have a family, vacation is obviously a time when the kids get to spend a lot more time with Mom and Dad.  If you are like us this can get a bit stressful at times, especially on a long trip like ours, and with young children.  But overall great memories were made and we learned more about our children and they learned more about their parents.  I have great childhood memories of big road trips with my family and I want for my children to have those great memories too.

But what about vacation guilt?  I’m guilty of having vacation guilt.  The feeling that things are going to fall apart while I’m gone, or that people will be left hanging, or that I’m not contributing at my workplace and that will put my job in peril. Today is my first day back from vacation and the world is still spinning, our house is still intact and I’m sure that when I get to the office everything will be just fine there as well.  I let a number of things slide while I was on vacation and everyone understood and they survived just fine with the delay.

I’ll be writing more about our vacation on Friday, but I wanted to get this quick thought on ‘vacation guilt’ typed up.  One of the things I let slide was my weekly family worship guide that should have been posted yesterday.  You can check it out here >>> Week 28 – Saul’s Death