For many of us, life moves at a relentless pace. Our days are filled with emails, WhatsApp messages, meetings, deadlines, and an endless stream of news updates. Even when work hours end, our devices ensure that work is never too far away.
But what if you stepped away from it all? That is exactly what Jairam Sridharan, Managing Director and CEO of Piramal Finance, recently did. After taking a 16-day complete break from work and the digital world, he shared an important lesson – the world carried on just fine without him.
A complete break from work mode
In a LinkedIn post, Sridharan shared that during his vacation, he deliberately stayed away from everything that could pull him back into work.
‘What did I miss? Returned to ‘normal life’ yesterday night, after a 16-day break. Per my usual custom, for these 16 days I did not access email, didn’t pick up any calls, stayed away from WhatsApp, didn’t engage in any social media chatter, didn’t watch the news … Basically avoided anything that could remotely bring me back to ‘work mode’.”
Instead, he spent the time entirely with family and friends, focusing on being present in the moment rather than constantly checking notifications.
Coming back to thousands of messages
The return to everyday life was not at all surprising. Sridharan found over 3,000 unread WhatsApp messages, around 2,000 unread emails and hundreds of missed calls waiting for him.
Some of those missed calls were from important people, including his boss and the company’s promoter, prompting him to jokingly add, “ouch!”
Regardless of the flood of messages, one realisation stood out for him, it is just that very little had changed because of his absence.
The world moved on
During the two weeks he was away, important events continued to unfold. The Reserve Bank of India announced major policy measures, oil prices moved lower, and ongoing global conflicts remained unresolved.
Back home, everyday realities were unchanged too. The road outside his house was still dug up. His company’s month-end processes came and went without any disruption from his absence.
In one of the lighter moments of the post, he celebrated Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s long-awaited IPL triumph with the line, “Ee sala cup namde!”
Not everything he missed was trivial. Sridharan revealed that a friend had gone through a significant and distressing life event while he was away, reminding readers that disconnecting can come with trade-offs.
Still, the experience reinforced a larger lesson for him. “Everything in the world has carried on just fine without me,” he wrote.
The value of being fully present
For professionals under pressure to stay connected around the clock, Sridharan is giving out a different perspective. Stepping away from devices may mean missing emails, calls, news updates and even some important developments. But it can also create something increasingly rare that is uninterrupted time with loved ones. He concluded saying, “Device and interruption free time does entail some costs, some sacrifices. But the ability to be 100% present with your family for two weeks? Priceless.”