On one hand I'm tired of writing about the challenges of working under this pandemic. On the other, it's not going away quickly, and I know there are many people struggling much more than I am. I don't in any way want to minimize the hardships that some of you are going through. I know there are many more important things than this topic for you.

That being said, I wonder what some of you are doing about holidays and vacation this year. For many of us, any plans we might have had for a flight, a cruise, even a drive, might be derailed by closures and limitations. My wife would like to take a horse and go ride at a park, but many are closed. Other plans I had are completely up in the air for now, with no real idea of what to do instead.

My employer has asked all employees to take 60% of their vacation allowance by the end of September. It's a decision made for two reasons. One is that people need to avoid burnout and they need to get away from work, even if they can't go anywhere. Employees need to find some way to recharge.

The second reason is that assuming the world opens back up this summer or fall, we might have a large number of people wanting to take a few weeks off during the fourth quarter. Most businesses do expect more vacation during holidays, but they can't function well if too many people are gone at the same time. We have very liberal and generous policies at Redgate, but I'm not sure we want most of the company trying to take the entire month of December off.

I know I need to get a break, and I'm looking at starting to take some long weekends most weeks across the summer. If I can make plans with my wife, I might try to get a week or two off in a row and go somewhere, anywhere. We have a camper we can use, so if there's a place to park, we're thinking of just packing up and disappearing for a bit.

Let us know what you think about vacation during this pandemic. How will you handle it? Or can you just bank holiday time until next year? Maybe nothing changes for you if your normal holiday plans are still possible.

Whatever you do, be careful of burnout when your home and work lives are this intertwined. It can creep up on you if you are not careful.