I'm a 32 year old software engineer living in the U.S. Last year my company (in the most amazing extension of generosity I'd ever seen at any employer) gave ev

I'm a 32 year old software engineer living in the U.S. Last year my company (in the most amazing extension of generosity I'd ever seen at any employer) gave everyone the last two weeks of the year off. Prior to that, I'd never had a vacation longer than a week in my professional career. It's a funny thing - no one's twisting my arm to not take vacations, but I've always felt something akin to "I don't deserve a vacation" (for lack of a better description). I have known many co-workers in my career who have had similar anxiety about taking days off, as if we'll be perceived as not adding value if we're taking vacation. My current employer's giving of a mandatory 2 week vacation is only now starting to make me realize that employers (at least good ones, like my current employer) don't feel that way at all, and that feeling of inadequacy is in my head. This year? Well, perhaps I'll take a real vacation. I get 10 days allotted for vacation per year (so 2 weeks), and perhaps if I can find a good time to do so I'll take them consecutively and get a really good vacation - or at least, I won't feel guilty if I take two one-week vacations.