I have worked in various companies in India (two cities) after college for about seven years. Either of the cities are not my hometown or in my state and have vastly different cultures and food habits. Somehow foolishly I have not considered them my "home" when I lived there and would fly to my hometown about three/four times a year and think that I am "home". These would exhaust most of my vacation time. I cannot say for most, but many do this.
I recently started working at a University in a country which is known for its work-life balance (at least on paper). And, I started to realise that I was not quite thinking right about my vacations.
I noticed a colleague who took a month long vacation. Being a naive person I assumed that guy must have gone to some place he feels "home", or to a nice vacation place, I asked him what did he do for vacation, and he told me he was in cottage with his friend and no cellphone connection and he just was there.
It sounded strange to me. But, then I just realised, I never had a true vacation. Because, I always went to my home city or a trip to somewhere for my longer vacation. And, I would become busy with visiting relatives, making up for lost times in long distance relationships, making and sticking to the itineraries if I was visiting places, and other necessary works and no time to relax, which was supposed to be the essence of "vacation". And, I would return to my workplace feeling worse than when I left because this is not my "home" in my mind.
These thoughts made me think if it is necessary to call the place where you live, home, to actually be on a vacation and relax. I felt that some things in life, like the feeling of "home" or relationships, should be a part of your daily lives rather than needing you to always put too much effort into and take from your vacation time just to get that feeling.
What I also realised, that the very nature of work-culture situation at most of the workplaces in India numbs you from a few feelings which you can only feel if you take time to think about. But, maybe again, all these are just about my personal idea of vacation which is different for everybody.
I recently started working at a University in a country which is known for its work-life balance (at least on paper). And, I started to realise that I was not quite thinking right about my vacations.
I noticed a colleague who took a month long vacation. Being a naive person I assumed that guy must have gone to some place he feels "home", or to a nice vacation place, I asked him what did he do for vacation, and he told me he was in cottage with his friend and no cellphone connection and he just was there.
It sounded strange to me. But, then I just realised, I never had a true vacation. Because, I always went to my home city or a trip to somewhere for my longer vacation. And, I would become busy with visiting relatives, making up for lost times in long distance relationships, making and sticking to the itineraries if I was visiting places, and other necessary works and no time to relax, which was supposed to be the essence of "vacation". And, I would return to my workplace feeling worse than when I left because this is not my "home" in my mind.
These thoughts made me think if it is necessary to call the place where you live, home, to actually be on a vacation and relax. I felt that some things in life, like the feeling of "home" or relationships, should be a part of your daily lives rather than needing you to always put too much effort into and take from your vacation time just to get that feeling.
What I also realised, that the very nature of work-culture situation at most of the workplaces in India numbs you from a few feelings which you can only feel if you take time to think about. But, maybe again, all these are just about my personal idea of vacation which is different for everybody.
