Against Vacating.

[elfs]

Against Vacation:

At the heart of the high internal tension, the enduring and gnawing discomfort, is the loss of the normal alternate rhythm of work and rest, work and rest, that brings such immense satisfaction, variety, and joy and that is, in fact, the very stuff of life. Most Americans were born into and inherited a world in which work doesn't "participate in happiness," to quote [John Crowe] Ransom once again. It isn't naturally coupled with rest or leisure. Work and rest are not paired together, like dance partners, but set at odds, like gunfighters.

Grief, yes. Especially when we're told, time and again, that "if you find something you love that pays the bills, you'll never 'work' another day in your life," the idea of leaving something you love behind for the capricious incidentals of even the most well-planned vacation feels ridiculous.