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What Would You Do with Five Months Off?

6/20/2014

1 Comment

 
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Imagine you have a job that pays you not to work five months every year.  What would do with all that time?  


I had big plans for those two 10-week breaks before I landed a job where they were a reality.  I was going to scuba dive all over the world.  I was going to rent beachfront bungalows for entire months.  I thought about trying to write a book.  It was going to be epic.  Then I got married and had a kid.  Bye-bye selfish dreams.


Now I have the time but don't have the time to enjoy that time the way I had planned it.  These days when it comes to semester breaks I think in terms of "my work" and "their work".  Instead of leaving my family and sitting on a beach I come into the man cave that is my office at school and fool around.  Sometimes I get inspired and write a short article or apply to present at a conference.  If an invitation to speak at a teacher training event comes up or some editing work is requested I can focus on that without having to worry about a class schedule breaking my concentration.  Sometimes I try to improve a rubric for one of my courses or think of ways to make it a little better.  These breaks are the reason why I have time to help volunteer organizations like KOTESOL.  But mostly I don't work and that's what a vacation is really all about.  It's about making the stress melt away and, if you have a job you enjoy, actually giving yourself the chance to miss it and hopefully appreciate it more.


It turns out that I don't like not having anything to do.  I make work for myself but it doesn't feel like work because I like to see productive outcomes that are the results of my labor.  MY labor not THEIR labor.  When the new semester rolls around it's back to doing what I was hired to do and that's fine because if I enjoy the five months off I am afforded annually I'll be ready to get back in the classroom and get back to work.


When I teach job interview skills I include the question "How did you spend your last semester break?".  I probably wouldn't hired a candidate who answered that they got drunk and played video games but someone who burned themselves out taking a full load of intersession classes and working a part-time job wouldn't be a shoe in either.  Happiness comes from balance and that's what "my work" gives me.  I have the option to do it on days that I am inspired and the option not to do if the well is dry.  


What would you/do you do with all that time?

1 Comment
angie
6/21/2014 02:03:44 pm

It seems like we both "work" on our off days. But if we enjoy what we do it really isn't work. I see my job as running a business and I have to constantly redefine my brand and upgrade my lessons. I admire your work and play ethic!

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