6 Reasons To Take All Your Vacation Days

Starting booking your vacation days. If you're a part time or full time employee, chances are your company allocates you a certain number of paid vacation days per year, and you should take them. Immediately. Well not immediately, you need to give notice of course, so definitely put in your notice immediately. After all, what's better than a tropical beach sojourn? What, you don't like the salt water? Fine, what about a country jaunt? Or a ski trip? Or jungle adventure? "The world is your oyster" is a cliche, and a terrible one if you're allergic to oysters, but otherwise it's pretty true. The world is just waiting for you to crack it open and slurp it up. And you'll need your vacation days for that.

Despite vacation days existing, a recent study by Project: Time Off found that four out of ten of the people the surveyed didn't use their vacation days. This seems like a severe oversight on the part of many people who are really missing out on enjoying their lives to the fullest extent. If you're this kind of person, or the kind of person who only uses one or two of all your available vacation days, here are some reasons why you should use up all your vacation days and not let them idle unused:

1. Because You Get To Spend Quality Time With Your Loved Ones

In Project: Time Off's study, “The World Martyr’s Affair: How America’s Lost Week Quietly Threatens Our Relationships,” in which 1,214 U.S. adults were interviewed, 80 percent of people believed that by not using their vacation days they missed out on quality time with loved ones. So a pretty compelling reason for taking all your vacation days would be getting to spend the time you feel like you're missing on on with your loved ones, right? That's some sound logic.

2. Because Everyone Needs A Holiday

Work is stressful! If your job is never, ever, not once stressful or annoying or a cause for you to at least sigh emphatically, you've won at life, congratulations. But for the rest of us, time off from work is essential to stay sane.

3. Because No One Remembers The Days They Worked

The saying goes that you won't remember the days you worked. And you probably won't, unless something amazing happens like a promotion or some kind of creative revelation. But how often is work that memorable? What is memorable is the time you spend seeing new things and spending time with people you love.

4. Because The World Is Big And Your Time On It Is In Short Supply

You're dying. We're all dying. Sorry to get real on you like that. But time is precious, and you don't have much of it. So when your job offers you more time to do more fulfilling things than just hunching over your desk, there's no reason not to jump on it and use it to its fullest potential.

5. Because It's Free Pay

Your work is literally paying you to go on vacation. You're essentially getting free money. Why wouldn't you use up all your vacation days when they're days on which you're paid to not be at work? Seems like a pretty sweet deal to me.

6. Because Why Are You Even Trying To Resist A Vacation Anyway?

Ask yourself what your aversion to using up all your vacation days is. It's could be related to work anxiety, or even just apathy at trying to do something outside the status quo. Why are you resisting? If you can't give yourself a valid excuse (and no, "I have a lot of work" isn't a valid excuse, everyone has a lot of work), then it's time to rethink your priorities.

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