Just because it is normal and happens to almost everyone (Check what Post-Vacation Blues are here), experiencing Post-Vacation Blues does not mean we just ride the wave and move on. We can’t just take the emotions from Post-Vacation Blues lying down. Even if you have been forcing yourself through a rollercoaster of emotions throughout your adult life, you can still try to ease the pain.
So here are a few things I want to try and things that have helped me (backed by some therapeutic advice on the matter):
1. Keep a Shadow of Your Work Routine On Your Break
At first, you can sleep in and stay out late. Isn’t that the point of a vacation, right?
But as you slowly approach the return to work, it is better to try to get back on the horse of the daily work schedule instead of jumping into 6 AM mornings off the bat. That would be like jumping headfirst into ice-cold water after striving to stay warm all winter.
Keeping the routine in your system can help you from freaking out over earlier mornings and long work days.
Since the Post-Vacation depression phenomenon happens because of the disruption in the leisure and stress balance in your brain from the work week, keeping the routines or slowly easing into the daily work schedule can help you from waking up with a vacation hangover
Medical News Today suggests “have a positive routine in place [even when on vacation] so people can begin work calmly.” And that makes perfect sense as opposed to everything I did over the Holiday break.
2. Schedule a Buffer Day
I tried this after traveling from Taiwan last year (check out my post here).
And it worked wonders.
I took one extra day off even if I was already back home.
I was still officially on leave. My team handled all urgent matters, and I caught up on everything that happened while I was away, even before I was officially back.
With that out of the way, the next day felt like a typical work day. All I had to deal with was what was in front of me. There was no need to rummage through emails, Slack, and the company’s project management tool to figure things out. I caught up with everything that happened, and I did not feel like I was drowning in matters I missed.
The buffer day also felt like a stepping stone into the full work day. It helped condition my mind and body—a transition period before I had to be in 100% work mode.
3. Remember the Objectives of the Buffer Day
Just because you had a buffer day does not mean you have to complete everything that day. It is tempting to clear out all the tasks for a clean slate the next day.
That is impossible if you were gone for weeks at a time. Your buffer day will not be a small transition period but will be dreaded instead if that is your objective.
The point of the buffer day is to get the unnecessary out of the way and start the official work day with the urgent matters. Remember, you are still on leave and do not have to reply to EVERY TRANSACTION.
The downside of knowing what tomorrow brings is fixating on the outstanding tasks. My brain tries to address all the issues and plans how to get these done, where to get information, who to contact, etc. Instead of relaxing the day before, the brain is on overdrive.
In scenarios like this, remember you can step back, breathe, and shut the laptop.
You are still on leave. No one is expecting this to be solved now. Remember the objective of the buffer day. It should help you prioritize tasks for the next day and beat the overwhelm, not add to it.
4. Fully Step Away
Before the buffer day or buffer days (whatever is best in your situation), DO NOT CHECK IN.
Fully step away so you can fully get back.
A half-hearted leave could lead to a half-hearted workday. And the goal here is to work and rest the best we can—a ministry of competence on both ends of the spectrum.
It is tempting, but fully stepping away would be much better than dragging your vacation days down by problems others should have handled when you were out.
There is no excuse to check your work while you are away.
Check out this Harvard Business Review article on tips to help you fully step away from work if you struggle like me.
5. Rest Even In a New City
Traveling to a new city for vacation forces you to max out your vacation days and walk 20k steps each day to make the best of that plane ticket.
Although I want to make the most of my money, I know how this mindset has made me feel worse after vacations than better.
The word vacation comes from the word vacare, which is to empty, to vacate.
A trip filled with back-to-back plans is not empty. It takes away the whole point of taking that vacation.
My solution here is to schedule my vacations with both activity and stillness. Have days filled to the brim with activities—to make the most of the cities—but at the same time, have days for nothing.
After walking two days with 20K steps, there should also be days of exploring a city without any objective other than to be there and enjoy, to sleep in under the thick duvets of hotels, and to read a book and drink some coffee in a local cafe.
That is the beauty of being a Traveller—learning to take things slow for the work days ahead is wise.
Let’s stop filling our vacations with stress to return to stress.
Busyzi 