As some of you may have heard, back in the fall I was planning a Christmas trip back to New Hampshire to visit family and friends…which I ended up calling off when COVID cases and restrictions ramped up. This sucked pretty hard, and while I don’t regret calling off the trip, it’s unfortunate that circumstances forced me into making that tough decision.
Here’s the good point, though: while planning the trip, I got approved for a four-week vacation from my Day Job. And when I called off the US trip I decided I’d still use the time off.
Quick bit of backstory: My job as an ALT on the JET Program comes with, among other perks, 20 paid days off per year that are pretty flexible, especially if I schedule them in advance. Last year because of COVID I barely used any, so when my new JET contract started in August I found myself with a mouth-watering 29 days to use or lose as I see fit.
And I have no intention of losing them.
Vacations are Awesome, But Staycations are Important Too
When I told a friend that I was taking so much time off her response was to be expected: She asked me what I was going to do.
It’s hard to answer a question like that in just a few words. In the past I’ve used time off from my Day Job to take trips to Kyoto, Yamanashi, and Totttori, but this year, regardless of the COVID risks I don’t really feel like traveling. Instead, I really want to stay in my cozy Toyama apartment, do some serious relaxing, read a few books, and write.
However, this seems less socially acceptable than saying I’m going skiing or visiting the Noto Peninsula or taking the train to Hokkaido, because these are things people expect to hear when you say that you’re taking time off from work.
On the other hand, it’s much harder to explain what I’ve actually been doing during my holiday break. I’ve already finished and submitted a short piece I was working on, I’m planning on online reading for the spring with some other writers (stay tuned!), and I’m starting on a big editing project for a client. Of course I’ll be making some progress on my new novel, but also catching up on lapsed correspondence with friends (sorry if you’re on my list!), writing a few book reviews, and starting on the new TRAM issue.
Then there’s all my plans for this blog in 2021, including more interviews, at least one guest post, and a lot of Day Job topics big and small. I also want to get back into social media (my Twitter’s been pretty lonely lately…) and be more engaged with the writing and creative work going on all around me.
Also, I have a towering stack of books (plus more on my e-reader!) requiring my attention.
Then there’s all the cleaning I did to welcome in the new year, plus more I plan on doing before the vacation’s over.
I also want to spontaneously meet friends sometimes, like I did the other day when we drove to a beautiful temple in the forest and to this old farm where the owner is keeping an ostrich—like, for serious, we went to this farm that had an ostrich on it.
Oh yeah, and I also feel the incredible need to just unwind with a few movies, the backlog of shows I want to watch, and even a few video games (I’m looking at you, HDMI-ready Japanese Famicom reissue I bought at the mall).
All these things are really important to me because they’re the things I want to be doing aside from my Day Job, and that my Day Job actively makes it more difficult to do.
In that sense, taking a staycation to live the life I want to live where I can devote time to the creative work I want to do is really important to me. It’s as important as any road trip, family gathering, or child’s school play might be to someone else.
Also, you know, those days off are built into my Day Job contract, so not using them is the same as working for free, and I don’t work for free ;-)
It’s OK to Use Time Off From Your Day Job For Creative Work
Like I talked about in my post about paid holidays, most jobs have some form of time off built into them that we can use for non-Day Job activities. While most people use this time off for vacations and family events, for me, using it for creative work is just as meaningful.
If you’re thinking about using some (or all!) of your Day Job time off for your own creative work, do it! Don’t worry about society’s expectations, or about justifying your choice to people who might ask nosy questions about it. It’s your time, and you should use it in a way that makes sense for you.
Happy 2021, everybody!