24-07-2025
Working While Honeymooning
For some newlyweds, W.F.H., or work from home, has a different meaning: work from honeymoon.
When Pooja Shah, 33, was working as a lawyer in New York, she used some of her paid time off for a weeklong trip to the Maldives shortly after marrying Priesh Mistry, 33, in March 2022.
Her work phone went with them.
Ms. Shah's colleagues encouraged her to disconnect, but she felt guilty doing so, especially because the firm she worked for was about to merge with another one. Instead of relaxing at the pool, Ms. Shah spent much of her honeymoon looking at saved emails and taking notes. She spent hours brainstorming action items and crafting to-do lists to tackle upon her return, because she couldn't connect to the internet in real time.
'I was in a completely different mind space when it came to work and ambition,' she said, adding that she felt she 'could do so much more.''
Her new husband was, according to Ms. Shah, 'very irritated.'
During a romantic candlelit dinner on the beach, or one that was intended to be, at least, Ms. Shah's work phone pinged with a notification. Mr. Mistry told her, ''If you want to have dinner with your phone, then I can leave,'' she recalled.
'At the time I was like, 'Oh my gosh, you're being so dramatic,'' she said. But hindsight is 20/20. 'I get it, she said. 'I was definitely obsessed.'
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