Vacation Rationing

So by now you all know that I got a promotion at work and have this new job with all these cool & crazy responsibilities; I’m totally an essential part of my department and contribute to the growth of the company, blah, blah, blah…..!

And while that’s really great – something I felt was really missing in my last position – it means that I can’t afford to take as many vacations as I used to.

……which really sucks, because I feel the need to take more of them now since this job is kind of stressful.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because I might not be able to fly home for Christmas this year. My vacation time was cut down significantly by my recent trip to New York and I’m not sure I’ll be able to accrue the needed days-off for a Christmas vacation this year.

It gets even trickier this year because half of my current department consists of L.A. transplants - people originally from the South, the East Coast, Scotland,…..and now Hawaii.

My old department consisted of people whose families lived in Los Angeles and could afford to work during the Christmas holidays. Christmas vacation was never really an issue back then.

But now….I’ve heard it can get kind of vicious around the holidays when it comes to asking for time off – begging, bargaining, lots and lots of toadying to the boss, etc. etc.

I don’t even want to think about what I’ll have to go through to get time-off approved for Evan & Mahea’s wedding in Hawaii next year.

Ah well, working up the nerve to ask today – wish me luck! 

Communities

A friend of mine is having a hard time with their new job and was asking for ways to deal with the stress.

A lot of people suggested yoga, exercise, positive affirmations, remembering to take vacations, movies, blogging, etc. all things that one could do by themselves to relieve the stress / frustration of his job. And while those are good ways to relieve the symptoms of stress, I don’t believe that doing those things will help you deal with the actual cause of it all.

My recommendation was ‘going to Happy Hour at the local Bar,’ which I admit SOUNDS like a bad way to relieve stress (“drinking makes the pain go away, lolz!”) But in my experience, “Happy Hour at the Bar” is when / where people go after work to blow off steam & complain with other co-workers and is a very good place to build a community of support. Exercise, meditation, etc. may do a good job of relieving stress – but so does talking with other people who know what you’re going through.

These people listen (something that a ton of other people in therapy have to pay $$$ for) and help by giving advice, sharing their own experiences, and agreeing that “yeah what you’re going through is pretty tough.”

I think people these days try to replace the idea of “building a community” with things like “commodities” & “comforts,” but I just don’t think it has the same effect.

What do you all think?
Also - how do you relieve stress?