Teri Burgos-Gutierrez, Corporate Trainer

Teri, a wife to a dentist, and mother to 3 adolescent sons, trains professionals and writes textbooks in Speech. She can be reached at gutierrez_teri@yahoo.com

GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK: Take Time Off from Work
Teri Burgos-Gutierrez

“We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness. Travel, explore, and tell the world the glories of your journey.”  -John Hope Franklin

As I write this article, I am enjoying the beauty, glory, grandeur, and the romance that only the City of San Francisco in the state of California brings. This alluring place has become like a second home to my family because of an aunt and a brother who permanently reside in this city by the bay. After working so hard to earn our daily keep and vigilantly attending to family and personal concerns, my husband (a dentist by profession) regularly travels to the United States to attend to his annual convention as an Affiliate Member of the American Dental Association. Years ago and with a little extra fund at hand, we managed to send our sons to travel, every now and then, not only for fun and leisure but most importantly for learning goals that can improve their skills and help develop their leadership potentials.

We have been strong advocates of what St. Augustine once said: “The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”

Travel!

For us in the corporate world, there is a great need to give ourselves a break! We desperately want  time off from the rigorous and severity that our work demands.

Want some career advice: Learn how to relax and have a breather once in a while. We owe it to ourselves. Our work and career owe it to us. We cannot work eight straight hours a day and continue to think about work when we get home. We cannot work five straight days a week and continue to think about work on weekends. We can enjoy work and continue to enjoy life as well! TRAVEL! 

Networking

Traveling need not be expensive. With a few hundreds of pesos, we can take a bus ride going to nearby northbound towns and provinces and enjoy the quiet scenery away from the hustle and bustle of the city life. With a few more hundreds, you can either go southbound and experience the slightly different way of life but taste the exuberant array of food that is so variant from what we see at our fast-food centers proliferating all over the metropolitan area. And, if you have a little more, you can take a plane ride and travel to nearby Asian countries where the airfares are now within reach by everyone and anyone!

Once you’ve tried it, you’ll never regret it. In fact, you’ll keep longing for it. Traveling is never a luxury. It is a necessity for us in this marketplace – for our professional growth, our ongoing learning process, and our enjoyment.

There are so many things you can learn from it and you’ll never go wrong once you have indulged yourself in it.

You can learn a new dialect or a new language. You can invest in some books or travelogues, visit museums, taste different foods and delicacies, or simply take photos for posterity’s sake. Traveling can all the more boost up your self-esteem and further develop your confidence level. You will meet people from all walks and strata of life and thus pave the way for opening your communication and networking lines with them even through the wonder of cyberspace. It will hone your leadership potentials and empower your personal, social, cultural, and professional perspectives in life which are essential to the Herculean tasks in the industries we are in.

Professional Growth

Diana Ross was once quoted as having said: “There are so many different ways in which to include travel experiences in your educational growth. It is simply a matter of taking some time in order to determine which will work out best for you. In all the years of experience with my educational travel, I have yet to find a downside. All of my experiences have helped shaped me into the person I am today. For that, I am truly grateful.”