Why You Need a Vacation, Not a New Job
You’ve probably had many Monday mornings where you grab a coffee and head to work feeling like you’re stuck on repeat. But when your soul keeps nudging you to look for another job, you might be looking in the wrong direction. A new job or career won’t necessarily make things any better. Sometimes that nagging feeling isn’t just dissatisfaction with your job or boss, but a deeper weight caused by chronic stress and lack of meaning.
If you’re thinking about jumping into a new job, here are three reasons to pause and consider a reset first.
- A vacation can help you reclaim purpose in your life
When you’re experiencing burnout, it’s easy to mistake it for hating your job. But sometimes it’s actually a lack of connection to yourself and your purpose in life. If you jump to a new job, you risk feeling depleted again – just with a new boss. Instead, consider the kind of vacation that will let you hit the reset button to pause and reconnect.
Stepping away from your daily routine gives your brain space and time to reboot and helps your spirit recharge. Research shows that traveling and having new experiences can reduce anxiety and boost creativity. It’s the best way to get out of a rut.
But for some, deeper rest is needed. That’s where plant medicine – like ayahuasca – can help. In a proper setting with an experienced Auahuasquero, a guided ayahuasca retreat can provide significant improvements in mental health, overall wellbeing, and spiritual clarity.
After a ceremony, many people report feeling less stressed and feeling more compassionate toward themselves and others. Gaining a sense of purpose is also common among participants. If you feel called to go, it’s worth using your vacation time to visit a retreat center.
After you take a vacation and pause to reconnect, you can still make the decision to change jobs or careers if you feel like it’s right for you. But don’t jump ship without at least giving your body, mind, and soul a chance to recharge.
- “Just work less” is a myth
Maybe you’ve told yourself if you just find the right job you’ll feel better, or that if you worked less things would be easier. But real burnout doesn’t just come from overload. It’s total depletion at the soul level. The equation is more than just “less work = better life” it’s “less stress, more meaning, more rest = better life.”
Burnout comes from chronic stress, not just hustle. Not everyone who hustles burns out. Burnout is the result of stress that has not been managed. Stress that comes from things like constant pressure, misaligned values, tedium, and constant depletion.
The thing is, taking short breaks doesn’t usually work. A weekend off is nice, but it can take days just to get out of stress mode and by the time Monday rolls around you’re still not rested. You need an actual mental health vacation that allows you to rest and recharge on the first day.
- Don’t take on another grind
When every day feels like Monday, your sense of meaning and purpose can get diluted fast. Your identity becomes wrapped up in your job title and performance metrics. But a reset can help you rediscover yourself outside of your job. That’s why you don’t want to take on another job. It will just become another grind with a new boss.
It may feel like you’re taking action by changing jobs, but if the root cause is disconnection or depletion, you’ll end up in the same position in your new role. Your next job might feel different at first but you’ll soon feel tired and depleted again.
Even if you manage to land a job that feels good, it won’t last long. Burnout will quickly reappear unless you handle the root cause. When you put your wellbeing first and take a vacation that truly allows you to reset your entire being, you’ll be able to heal the source of your exhaustion.
You need a reset, not a new job
Changing jobs may feel like a bold move, but it’s not going to bring you the peace and rest you need. Choosing to rest can make you feel like you’re not doing anything, but that’s exactly how to heal burnout. Once you get that deep, soulful rest, then you’ll have the perspective needed to decide whether you need a new job or if a refreshed outlook is enough.
So, before you send in that resignation letter, consider taking a real vacation to reset your soul. It just might take you in a better direction.
