James Mills is a web developer in the North East of England and founder of Refresh Teesside »
Mike Hughes is the Head of Business for the Evening Gazette. He will be blogging on all matters of importance to Teesside businesses - and some that are just worth knowing »
Jez Davison, business writer at the Evening Gazette, is a regular blogger on all things business - particularly finance, entrepreneurship and the state of the Teesside economy » 
Karen McLauchlan is the Evening Gazette's deputy business and features editor - with special interest in all things industry, property and arts related » 
Jeremy Middleton is a venture capitalist and the co-founder of FTSE-200 company HomeServe » 
Deloitte, which has 23 offices across the UK including Newcastle, is among the country's leading professional services firms » 
ClimateNE & Climate Change Schools Project support the move to a low-carbon, resilient economy and help businesses avoid risk and realise commercial opportunities. Posts by Jen Atkinson, Krista McKinzey and Harriet Thew » If I had been employed instead of self-employed I would have been given a good talking to by the HR (human resources) team for not taking my holidays. This is the time of year when virtually everybody does off for at least aweek. In rural areas many farmers and tourism businesses of course are needed in their business and frankly for many years that was my excuse.
Martyrdom in its full religious sense may be worthy but at a more mundane definition it is about many of us believing we are indispensible.....my mention of this topic to a friend before deciding to blog it met with a stoical and true statement: - " The graveyard is extremely full of indispensible people." Let's discuss!
The press has been full of a range of stories around this topic: -
1) People having to work almost twice as hard before they go and after they get back...never!
2) People - mainly men - who can't leave their blackberries at home....check those e mails and take those calls
3) Cost of childcare for those parents who both work and can't take holidays
4) Effect of downturn on holiday destinations/numbers of holidays
All in all we are living more stressed lives and for some just the organising and going and repairing stuff when they get back is putting them off a holiday. Work/life balance is important and as such I know that the north east and rural areas should be able to be a paragon of best practice.
For me my drought in holidays with my family has been for a number of reasons some selfish - ironically - but mainly because I have been happy to be that martyr. Also lets not forget that I love being a multiple business owner and my creative side means even holidays are more likely encourage my business mind than not.
Happy ending I did holiday with my fantastic family (Mrs Brown and the four children aged 8 to 15), and my in-laws, we cruised in the Med' as two of my daughters were in the dance troupe of the Alnwick Academy of Dance, they had five performances during the week in the ships' theartre. I read books, complained about the heat and generally did the tourism thing.
In summary......as somebody who put off for too long, is just make the time! Time waits for nobody.....we only have so many breaths so best take some of them in a more relaxed world than the world of work.
For the self-employed and those on tight finances I am aware of the real constraints but like all sacrifices they may be worth while....your judgement call?
Ian
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