The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-05-25
PROPER Use OF
VACATION SEASON
Those Who Return "aii In" Do Them
selves ard Employers an lnJus-
eice Says Physician.

AS a vacation Is necessary, should we
not give some thought as to how 1t should
be utilized in order to get the best re-
suits? How many, many times has the
writer had patients come to him at the
end Of a vacation period and say, 81
don't feel a bit like going to work to-
morrow. wish I could have a couple OF
days to rest up in"
People who feel like this at the end
Of a vacation period have been unfair.
first, to their employer; secondly, to
themselves. 1t has been said that ''you
never get something for nothing You
who are numbered among the employed
may have thought that in getting q two
weeks vacation with pay you were get
ting that two weeks pay for nothing. You
were not. Your employer had a definite
end in view when he granted you that
vacation. He expected you to so use 1t
that you would return to your work with
renewed energies, mental or physical or
both, and in order that you might do
this he was willing to pay you for the
time consumed in the process.
If you, do not SO return you certainly
are not making just return for value
received. You have been decidedly un-
fair to your employer. You have also
been unfair to yourself, for, given tho
time and the opportunity to recuperatc
and restore the spent energies, the worn
tissues, the tagging spirit, it is your
duty to yourself to take advantage Of it.
Failing to do this you will probably be
the chief sufferer-first physically so,
through pain and sickness, and secondly,
financially so, through decreased earn
ing powers.
All of this can just as aptly be ap-
piled to the employer, the business man
himself, no matter what Zine hes may
be in. The employer who will waste a
vacation period by returning to his busi-
ness as tired or more SO than when he
left must not blame the times nor his
line of goods should his business begin
to slip away from him. An engine with
badly worn bearings trying to drag
a train of cars, all suffering with the
same defect, is bound to meet disaster
sooner or later. And who but the engi-
neer will be to blame-certainly you
cannot place the fault upon the engine.
Had it been given the proper care and
attention it would still be running strong.
We are inclined to believe that one
of the great reasons for the abuse of the
vacation privilege lies in the misinter-
probation of that word recreation" So
many will tell you that it means having
good time, seeking all the enjoyment
you can, playing just as hard as you
have worked and so forth and so on.
Now is that all it means? In fact, is
tnat even the right interpretation or the
word at all? Do we not, by dividing the
word get its true meaning? Recreation
does that not give it greater sig
nificance? Is not a vacation period q
time to seek a recreation rather than
simply recreation?
How is a recreation to be best brought
about? Do we need to forget or forego
the recreational meaning of the word
Not at all. Proper recreation, properly
INDUCED in may be and should be very
large factor in bringing about a re-crea-
ton of bodily functions, both mental and
physical This naturally brings up the
question--what would be considered prop
er recreation? Might we not answer, that
by saying-the doing of something diff
ferent from what your work requires you
to do but to do it in moderation.
The doing something different in
cludes the seeking of a change of en-
vironment. If your home and business is
in the mountains go to the seashore, and
vice versa; If they are in large city.
seek the country or the mountains, and
again we might say, land vice versa"
But it may not be really necessary to
go away from your own home at ALL
in fact there may be decided disadvan-
tages in doing SO.