Posting from a coffee shop on vacation right now as I had to run over and respond to a critical issue

I made the mistake of promising to check my work email while on vacation for a specific project once. I ended up not being able to check my email in a timely fashion. Meanwhile ppl were waiting for my response. When I finally responded I felt bad for not doing it sooner and also kicking myself for not disconnecting fully. So now I completely unplug and set ppl's expectations accordingly. It's much better this way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. At around 40 I finally realized work will never care about you like you care for work. It’s ok to take breaks. I like the glass balls v. rubber balls analogy. Work is always a rubber ball. You can drop it and it’ll bounce back. My health, mental health, family, etc. are all glass balls that I will fiercely protect.

Thank God you were not soldier in WWII

What? When they were on leave they didn’t check in at the front.

If I travel outside the States, I am prohibited from bringing my work computer connecting to Teams/Outlook. I still text my fellow managers for anything big.

If domestic, I bring my work phone but turn off all Teams/Outlook notifications and will skim occasionally.

Yes, I disconnect either entirely or mostly (eg check emails/slack once a day). I try to plan my trips to area without cell service or don’t pay for roaming plans if travelling internationally and never bring my work laptop to facilitate disconnecting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. At around 40 I finally realized work will never care about you like you care for work. It’s ok to take breaks. I like the glass balls v. rubber balls analogy. Work is always a rubber ball. You can drop it and it’ll bounce back. My health, mental health, family, etc. are all glass balls that I will fiercely protect.

Thank God you were not soldier in WWII

Good philosophy. I don't truly "disconnect" from work until a few days of vacation. Because of this, a weekend vacation doesn't satisfy. As for technology, I take my phone and that's it. Catch up on work emails only once a day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. At around 40 I finally realized work will never care about you like you care for work. It’s ok to take breaks. I like the glass balls v. rubber balls analogy. Work is always a rubber ball. You can drop it and it’ll bounce back. My health, mental health, family, etc. are all glass balls that I will fiercely protect.

Thank God you were not soldier in WWII

Anonymous wrote:Yes. At around 40 I finally realized work will never care about you like you care for work. It’s ok to take breaks. I like the glass balls v. rubber balls analogy. Work is always a rubber ball. You can drop it and it’ll bounce back. My health, mental health, family, etc. are all glass balls that I will fiercely protect.

Thank God you were not soldier in WWII

This is highly dependent on your job. We vacation with my family frequently. My BIL is a surgeon. He doesn’t work at all on vacation. I’m an attorney and I probably average two hours a day while I’m on vacation. It’s better if I leave the country and in a different time zone. I went to Europe last summer for two weeks and my colleagues covered for me so I didn’t work much at all.

Yes. At around 40 I finally realized work will never care about you like you care for work. It’s ok to take breaks. I like the glass balls v. rubber balls analogy. Work is always a rubber ball. You can drop it and it’ll bounce back. My health, mental health, family, etc. are all glass balls that I will fiercely protect.

Yes and my team (and my boss) know they can reach out in a true emergency. This gives me peace of mind and allows me to actually disconnect- I know they will be in touch if they need me. 99% of the time they do not.

Yes fully disconnect and so do my bosses. I support the three most senior people in our agency so have awareness of whether they truly disconnect and the answer for most trips is yes.

I just went on vacation for 3 weeks and fully disconnected. My office encouraged me to do it, and I felt so lucky that they were willing to cover the slack.

I disconnect at the end of every work day so there is little to no chance I am checking in during vacation

Yes, of course. If you can't or won't do this, it is your own fault.