The meetings are already there.
Quarterly reviews, strategy sessions, client calls, business travel, deadlines, and deliverables.
For many professionals in the United States, a calendar can fill months before the year has truly begun.
But there is one commitment that is remarkably easy to postpone: Time away.
Not another business trip with an extra evening attached. Not a few days “off” spent checking email between activities. Real time away from the patterns, pressures, and constant decision-making of professional life.
And recent workplace data suggests that many professionals may need to take that time more seriously.
The 2026 Data: American Workers Are Under Pressure
According to the 2026 NAMI–Ipsos Workplace Mental Health Poll, 53% of workers said they felt burned out because of their job in the past year.
The same research found that:
39% felt so overwhelmed that it was difficult to do their job
38% felt their mental health suffered because of work demands
35% felt their productivity suffered because of their mental health
26% considered quitting because of work’s impact on their mental health
These figures point to something more significant than simply having a busy week. For many professionals, sustained workplace pressure is affecting both well-being and the experience of work itself.
61% of U.S. Workers Are “Languishing” at Work
A separate 2026 Workplace Wellbeing Report from the University of Illinois found that 61% of U.S. workers were languishing, while only 39% were flourishing at work.
The findings were based on a nationally representative sample of 2,000 U.S. workers.
That distinction matters.
You can attend every meeting. Meet every deadline. Answer every email. Deliver every presentation.
And still feel that your energy, motivation, or sense of engagement is running lower than it should.
It’s Time To Clear Your Mind
Imagine a morning when your first thought is not in your inbox, a day measured in miles rather than meetings, a conversation uninterrupted by notifications, or a landscape so remarkable that you forget to check the time. It is the rare freedom to focus only on the road ahead and the moment you are in. For someone whose professional life is shaped by constant decisions and anticipation of what comes next, being fully present may be one of the greatest luxuries of all.
Check out our Fixed Departures and start to plan your escape!
Written by
Julie Fishman
General Manager, USA
After 25+ years in the corporate world, Julie has learned first and foremost to care about the customer’s experience. She is now partnered with Adventures Overland to offer their guided driving expeditions to American guests for the first time. Her love of the road is grounded in her 4x4 club membership and a lifetime of global travel experience, combined with a love a nature and being of service.
