Today is the day before the Fourth of July, a national holiday in the US, when we celebrate independence with grilled meats, beer, and setting things on fire. Yet many of you are probably reading this at your office instead of taking a four-day weekend. And if you’re actually off today, you’re still reading this, aren’t you? Which means you’re likely next going to check your work email on your phone. And maybe answer a dozen or two of them.

I know taking time off is hard to do. The work of restoring balance to the world never ends. Even when you’re not actively working, you’re still thinking about stuff, ruminating on how to raise more money, why your desk is a mess, when you’ll get around to filing things, whether you should check-in with a client you helped five years ago, etc. Most of us are never truly off in this vocation. We don’t make widgets. Or ice cream. Our work is often life or death. That’s why I keep hearing some of you say things like,

“I haven’t taken a day of PTO in three years.” Or “I haven’t had a real vacation in a decade.”

That makes the Great and Loving Unicorn of Equity cry bitter tears of sadness.

With that, I am off. Today and tomorrow, I am going to pull the kids around the neighborhood in their little red folding wagon. We’ll blow dandelion seeds and collect rocks and look at bugs. We’ll watch the setting sun burnish the clouds into glowing embers as popsicles melt down the boys’ tiny hands.

Read the source article at Nonprofit AF