Health & Fitness
Are Americans Happy to be the No-Vacation Nation?
Could you handle six weeks of vacation time? Is it true that Europeans work to live and Americans live to work?
Every year when summer vacation season starts, we see an article comparing the meager vacation time the typical worker in the United States gets compared to the generous time off common in other countries.
It often seems that Europeans have most of the month of August off, while many in the US feel they can only manage one week, at best. While many in the US complain that they have never taken more than a week off at a time, there is no real push to legislate time off as is
common in other countries.
CNNTravel asks “Why is America the No-Vacation nation?” In the USA, only 57% of workers even take the vacations in which they are entitled. Many cite the pressures to be on call or in touch via email, no matter where they are. Others want to avoid the backlog of work waiting when they return.
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The Journal of Happiness Studies has a different explanation. They suggest that Americans are happiest when they are working. Americans equate hard work with success more than Europeans do.
Maybe this mindset is why so many people’s “bucket lists” are full of places they would like to travel to. Perhaps we feel that taking too much time off before we retire will put us at a disadvantage in the workplace. In our drive to succeed and make a better life for our families, are we missing the chance to experience life and connect in other ways?
