5 Things To Avoid During A Two Week Vacation At Home

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Too much time on my hands.

I’ve had my current job for three years now. That’s six months longer than my last three real jobs, all of which lasted about two and a half years. This last three years is the longest I’ve ever gone without a gap of at least a few weeks of unemployment. This two week vacation I’ve just finished was a much needed break from the tedium of the office.

People assume I’m joke when I tell them how much I enjoyed being laid off twice in the past, but in all seriousness, I’m hoping to get laid off again next year after my company gets acquired. If I was let go with a six-month severance package right now, I’m pretty sure I could turn that money into a mostly automated online business that would let me retire now.

Back to reality tho. Vacation’s over and I went back to work yesterday. After hearing how incredibly busy the team was without me, I was fortunate that the support cases (it’s my week to handle those) were VERY light, especially for a Monday. So I had plenty of time to reflect on my vacation, and how much I wish I could do it again next month.

Here are five things I will try not to do again, however, next time I take a two week vacation:

1. WORK - Being as excited as I was about the end of the 30 Day Challenge and Emerald Nova, I actually worked way too much the last two weeks. There were a few days I barely left my computer. I told myself that I was laying the groundwork for my early retirement (Next year, maybe), but the truth is that I just couldn’t think of anything better to do much of that time. I’m not accustomed to being home and having nothing to do.




2. Eating too much - I entered the vacation fully intending to eat lightly and lose some more weight. I did eat well most days, and did lose a little weight, but not as much as I had hoped. I blame the ice cream, a temptation I just can’t resist some days.




3. Procrastination - With a one-week vacation at home, it’s not so hard to get things done. You have nine days, but you’re really only taking off five extra days. Five days are easy to fill, and if you can stay motivated, it’s easy to get things done. You don’t have a lot of extra time, so you have to keep moving. Taking ten days off, however, gives you sixteen consecutive free days. It’s like being unemployed all over again. It’s easy to forget what day it is. It’s easy to tell yourself that you have plenty of time and don’t need to rush anything. No, you don’t need to rush, but it’s too easy to let an entire day slip away in front of the computer or TV if you’re not careful.




4. Under-planning - The easiest way to slip into procrastination is to under plan. I entered the vacation with a to-do list of 22 items. I skipped ten of them. Half were movies I wanted to watch; I found other forms of entertainment instead, so not a big deal. The others were things I really wanted to do, but simply didn’t plan well for them. It wasn’t just procrastination, it was time management and poor preparation as well. I didn’t plan, and I wasn’t ready… that leads to procrastination.




5. Changing your sleeping pattern - If I could manipulate the cosmos, my first change would be to slow the Earth’s rotation so the day could be 28 hours long. I guess most people do just fine with 24 hour days, but not me. I don’t even start feeling tired until I’ve been awake 18 to 20 hours most days. And while I’d prefer to be able to sleep seven to eight hours a night, the two just don’t fit together… until you’re on vacation, that is. While I was trying to be careful not to stay awake too late or sleep too late, it just didn’t work for me. How can I set the alarm to wake up at 5:40am when I’m on vacation?! The kids spent the last Saturday night with their grandmother, and I slept until 11:30 Sunday morning. It felt great to catch up on lost sleep, but it also meant I was awake until around 3am Sunday night. Monday morning, waking up at 5:40 was HELL, but I did it anyway, to get my sleep schedule back on track.