UNITED STATES—We all need it and for so many Americans we don’t always get it. Personal time off: it is where you just disconnect from work, family and any stressors in your life. Some people might suspect this column is geared towards taking time off from work, and while true, that is not the sole focus. It is no secret that Americans work too much. If you look at our international pals, most Europeans receive up to 8 weeks of vacation.

Yeah, that left me baffled when I heard that compared to how many weeks Americans receive. For most, its four weeks max. Hello, there are 52 weeks in a year, 4 weeks is not a lot of time off. Why? A vacation never transpires the way you want a vacation to transpire. If you take a week off, you are in recovery mode the first 1-2 days of your vacation, the other 3-4 days you get to actually relax, and then the last 2-3 days you’re stressed about the notion of actually having to return to work.

So what does that mean? In essence you only have 2-3 days off completely from work. That is not enough time to fully recoup or re-energize yourself fully to be ready to return to work when the time comes. We need time off from work. I get so sick and tired of people thinking people want to work nonstop 24/7. No one wants to do that, and even if someone is telling you that, they’re LYING.

If you were to think about work 24 hours a day it would without a doubt drive you crazy. Jeez, me thinking about work for just a few hours frustrate me to the core. I think not having personal time off for people who have a job or jobs that they absolutely hate is worse. You just feel like the walls are closing in on you and no matter what you do or attempt to do to alleviate some of the stress nothing seems to work in your favor.

Making the situation worse are those employers who seem ambivalent to the fact that if you treat your employees like you care about them, they will care about you more in return. People are entitled to time off of work especially if they have already dedicated years to the company. What is even worse is if you are someone who doesn’t receive paid vacations.

That is the one thing I appreciate about having a job in corporate America: there are perks you get that you just don’t get from being self-employed. You actually get a paid vacation based on your contract. You get paid while you’re off of work, now that in the world is going to tell me that is not a good thing? I think no one America. On top of all the chaos that comes with vacations, you have to deal with those lazy co-workers who are always requesting time off, but not willing to acknowledge that they dropped the ball in the process.

Time off allows you to rethink what is transpiring in your life. Do you love what is going on, do you just need that breather from that co-worker from hell or more importantly is a bit of time needed to spend with family? Time off is not just for recuperation it’s for rejuvenation; the opportunity to have a fresh perspective on things in your life.

Written By Zoe Mitchell