It has been a while now, since I tied myself down to a regular job with regular hours and regular limits on holidays. Mind you, I was always in two minds about all of those working holidays that were mixed up with conference duties and event management. Then again, I was in a state of academentia when all of that was part of my daily life. Nowadays, I have rediscovered the joys of (more light-hearted and lower-stakes, yet simply “better”) research for smaller engagement projects, and the ten-point list of requirements to acquire a Chinese visa feels that much more conquerable.
It is of course here that we meet a new dilemma. While I was able to move freely back then, work came with me or hunted me down when I did not want to see it. I also felt like I constantly owed the funding bodies to show my face on campus and talk about my research all the time, even when I perhaps should have simply taken a proper break. In retrospect, I think I was trying to perform the behaviour of those around me. It made me very tired because that was not really I am.
Now I feel up for the challenge of making as much as possible out of the time I can give to my family and friends in China – my itinerary has seven steps so far – and my funds are my own. But while I have holidays saved up, I find myself limited even in something so simple as that holidays longer than two weeks need to be authorised by somebody further up from my line manager. This is understandable, but we are yet again reminded that, for one reason or another, we are only (easily?) permitted two out of time, energy, and money.
Maybe not everybody in every workplace has family and friends scattered around the world. But hopefully whoever gets to decide whether or not I can have the holiday I planned has some sympathy for those for whom “going home” cannot be fitted into a weekend.
Hope everybody is having a good daylight-savings day (if you do that stuff), and are not feeling too winded.
The Real World for Young People 