Vacations

Several bloggers have discussed the dilemmas surrounding students’ requests for vacation time, like whether or not the advisor should be consulted, if the time must be "made up", etc. I have two week-long trips planned for this summer and felt compelled to run my plans by both advisors, though not necessarily ask for permission. Research Advisor didn’t seem especially interested and said fine. I must have had an apologetic look on my face when I talked to Academic Advisor today because he said, “why are making that face? Why do you feel bad about taking time off?” How great is that? He’s right, I shouldn’t feel bad.

That brings me to a thought I’ve had for a while: why do scientists feel like we need to justify their vacations? Why do we have to rationalize our fun?

I’ve noticed that people will say they need to take time off in order to be a better scientist. Vacations “recharge the batteries” so one can return to work in super production mode. Time off during evenings or weekends will “refresh creativity” and “clear one’s head”. These things are all true. But is the only reason we take vacations so that we can be better workers? Why don’t we take vacations just because it’s fun or to spend quality time with our families? I don’t feel like my whole point of living is to be a better scientist. There are lots of things that contribute to making me a good person and member of my community besides my work.

I get so sick of the notion that if I’m serious about my career, then the core of my identity should be as a scientist and that everything I do should be to fortify my worth as a worker. I think that’s bullshit. I’m glad that my advisors don’t seem to have that attitude.

I think I should be able to take a vacation just because I want to. If it happens to make me a better scientist, all the better.