Guilt...

I am good at self-inflicted guilt. So here it is, mid-July and I still have 35 hours of vacation time to take before the end of August. But looking at the calendar and thinking of all the work that comes with the start of a new semester it's more like August 10 as my 'deadline'. Now Aug. 10, is self imposed but I'm fairly certain my immediate supervisor would agree with that date. So in trying to be the 'good employee' I'm trying to take my time by then. The problem is working around others being out and trying to take the time when it will put the least burden on the office--I still recall the stinging words last year when I was told my being out creates a hardship on the office. So I try to accommodate everyone. Where all this leads is that since yesterday I have been kicking around taking some time off this week. My first thought was to take today and considering the whopper of a headache I had this morning that would have been great but I knew I had an appointment this afternoon. So this morning I was thinking I'll take tomorrow and got a verbal approval. However as the day has worn on and various 'fires' have come up I feel guilty about being out. I feel as though I should be there to take care of things. Hell, some questions this morning had me questioning if I knew what I was doing. So yes, I really could use the down time to try some destressing. It's the middle of the week, things will be piling up and I'll feel the need to work twice as hard on Thursday and I really have nothing planned for the day outside of sleeping in.

So what shall I do on my day off besides feel guilty that I actually took the time I had coming??? Maybe I can finally play with some pictures and paper instead of just thinking of all the things I could do. Or maybe I can unpack some more boxes--the ones that have been sitting neglected for the past year. Or more likely I'll end up just wasting a glorious day off.