On March 18th, 2020, my daughter turned 3 years old. We were just a few days into the pandemic shutdown. Prior to this, I had created a personal ritual around the time of her birthday. For her first and second birthdays, I had practiced yoga every day from her birthday until April 19th, which was the day we had brought her home from the NICU. The anniversary of that time always brought up so much for me, and I committed to caring for myself and honoring that chapter of our family’s story by dedicating myself to this physical practice for those 32 days.

But in 2020 there was no yoga studio where I could practice. I learned very quickly that trying to practice yoga in my living room with my toddler and husband running around me was not conducive to the meditative and physical release I was seeking to support my healing process. So I decided to create a new challenge for myself; run a 5K for each of those 32 days she spent in the hospital. 

That first month I rediscovered my love for running and the freedom I felt moving my body outdoors during a time when so much felt out of my control. So when April 19th rolled around, we celebrated my daughter’s “homecoming day” and I kept running. Some days I would only run 2.8 miles, others I would run 4, but I never missed a day. It became something I craved and felt I needed to be able to stay grounded during such an unsettling time. 

On March 18th, 2021, I began to run 4 miles a day, in honor of her fourth birthday. By this time I was feeling really strong, I could see my pace increase in speed, and I continued to feel empowered and liberated on my runs. At times I began to feel pain in my knees and my hip, but rather than take breaks, I started incorporating more strength and mobility training. 

As you may have guessed, by the time my daughter’s 5th birthday arrived, I was running at least five miles a day, still with no rest days. In fact, when I came down with COVID about 2 months after her birthday, I found myself becoming very anxious that I couldn’t run. Despite my body’s desperate need for rest, I would sneak down to our treadmill to get my miles in. I remember being feverish and unable to sleep and running in our dark dank basement thinking to myself, “something is not right here.”  After I recovered I had started to notice that my pace had started to plateau, and I found myself getting slower and feeling more fatigued on my runs. By July, I had reached a point where I could no longer walk- let alone run- without pain. 

There had been a few people along the way who had encouraged me to take breaks prior to this injury, but I received far more praise for my intensity and dedication. Despite the many signals my body tried to send, I refused to listen until I didn’t have an option. My method had become so rigid, it was inevitable that I was going to get hurt. 

Rest is not only important, it is necessary. After my injury I had to relearn how to love running and myself. I had to adjust my benchmarks of success. I had to embrace a new kind of consistency- one that didn’t require the same level of intensity each time I laced up my shoes. In fact, I began to discover that when I did allow myself to rest and take days off, my speed and my joy on my runs began to improve. 

For most of my career, I believed that doing more made me more valuable and would allow me to meet the benchmarks of success- for myself and for the organizations I worked for- faster. I’ve had to reckon with this false equation and recognize that doing more doesn’t always equal doing better. 

When I consult with businesses and organizations, I pay attention to the individual and collective relationship to rest. Working in non-profit and higher ed, I saw firsthand how those that constantly did more were implicitly and explicitly rewarded. I remember a cash award being given at a staff meeting and the employee who was selected was praised for, “Never saying no.” Whether you work in sales or on the front lines, many of us feel that taking time off is selfish, even shameful. I recently read a post from a former executive who said that C level executives should know that they can never take a vacation. This executive shared that this is why they no longer want C level positions.

I wholeheartedly disagree that executives cannot take vacation. I believe it is a dangerous precedent to set for our employees. 

When we enter the workforce, we look to leadership to set the tone of what is expected and how we can succeed. If we are in a leadership role we have a responsibility to our company that we model a healthy relationship to work. Simply put: we have to take vacation. We have to turn off our email and focus on our lives outside of work. If we can take real time away it will do what it is meant to do; we will come back to work reenergized and the rest we gave our minds and bodies will allow us to be more creative and more motivated. If we refuse to take time off- if we travel with our friends or family but stay on slack and email and never turn off from work-  we will slowly become more depleted. We will start to grow resentful of our work and our colleagues and will be less patient and compassionate. We will find ourselves making mistakes born from exhaustion. We will feel less motivated. Many of us will blame our company. And some of us will leave. If we model that leadership shouldn’t or can’t take vacation, how does that motivate our employees to want to stay and grow at our organizations? We are encouraging lightning bolt employees- folks who come and be incredibly bright and intense but cannot stay at that level and therefore leave those positions and organizations. 

If we want our colleagues to succeed- if we are invested in the success of our business or organization- we have to encourage and model rest. And for those of us who have started our own businesses that light us up and give us purpose- we too, have to take vacations. In my first year of JT Consulting, I took the first vacation where I felt fully present in the moment and with my family. The time away stretched and felt longer; I was ready and excited to return. And also, and I don’t think this was a coincidence, it was always around the time that I took vacation that my biggest deals closed. 

It  pays to take vacation. It will cost you if you don’t. Creating a company culture where time away is encouraged will increase employee retention and foster innovation and creativity that is denied when we are exhausted and depleted. Taking vacation is an investment and it can literally pay off. 

If you need support with employee retention and morale, we are here to help. Reach out to schedule a call today!