You’ve just spent a week in the mountains – hiking, chasing waterfalls, relaxing by the pool with that book you’ve been meaning to read for months, and sleeping in every morning. Unfortunately, the end of your vacation is nearing. Soon enough, you’ll be trying to pack your luggage again (which somehow never fits the way it went in), and driving down the road toward home. Life will resume in its usual busy fashion as you return with loads of laundry to wash, start running kids here and there again, and turn to your dreaded inbox, only to find hundreds of emails.
This might be the hardest part for some of us to return to – work. We finally had some time to relax and spend time with friends and family, but it was all too short. How do we motivate ourselves to start working again? How do we get back into the groove of things and re-establish our routines? How do we establish a healthy work-life balance? Here are five things you can do to prepare for and ease your post-vacation blues!
1. Before You Leave, Plan for Your Return
Many of us know what it’s like to come back the Monday after vacation – the hours drag on and you spend most of your time staring at either your screen or the clock. In truth, it doesn’t have to be that way! One great way to get back at it when you return, is to plan ahead. It will make your transition back to work that much smoother.
Before you even leave, spend some time planning what will need to be done when you return. Write down all of your deadlines so you know what will be quickly approaching, and how you can manage your time to meet those deadlines. Look at your calendar, email, and at any notes you have, and try to organize them in a way that will be helpful for when you return, and allow you to dive right into what needs to be done.
When you return, you’ll come back knowing exactly what needs to be done instead of wasting time or missing something important. It will also help you to avoid doing too much on your first day or week back, and save your precious energy.
2. Start Small
When you return, having your initial plan will prove helpful, but you may find that you planned for more than you can realistically take on, so some adjustments might need to be made. Take some time when you first return to go over your schedule, your deadlines, and the plan you set before you left. Deadlines may need to be shifted or meetings rescheduled, so adjust or add where needed. If you planned to take on too much, move things around so that this week is a little lighter where it can be, and this will help you avoid unnecessary stress on the first few days back.
As you begin to dive back into your work, remember to start small. Prioritize what is most important, and start with only those tasks. As you schedule meetings, don’t plan everything on the same day, or on days you know you’ll be tired and easily annoyed. If you can, break up your bigger projects with smaller tasks to give yourself a break. Or, take breaks to catch up with your team or do something to refresh and refocus. When we start small, we spend less time unmotivated and playing catch-up later, and our future selves will thank us.
3. Set Routines
Another important way to get back in the swing of things, is to get back into your every-day routines. This will bring some familiarity to your work and help you to keep your eyes on the prize.
If you usually have a meeting on Tuesday mornings at 10, try to stick with that meeting time. If Wednesdays are when you schedule social media posts in bulk, turn on some music or an audio book, and sit down around your usual time. If Fridays are when you treat yourself to a coffee while going through emails, do it! Whatever your work routines and habits are, get back into following them. Or, if you think it’s time for a new routine, find a way to incorporate it into what you’re already doing!
4. Establish a Work-Life Balance
While it can seem like rest and work are meant to be two very separate things, this mindset is one that can lead to burnout and stress. There has to be a healthy balance of the two for success in either area. If all we do is work, we’ll burn out quickly. At the same time, we can’t spend all of our time vacationing, otherwise we’d never get anything done. Things like taking breaks, using time off wisely, not taking on too much, or finding small ways to bring passion to the work we do, all help to establish that healthy work-life balance.
5. Plan The Next Adventure!
When we find ourselves longing to be back on the beach or sitting by the pool instead of getting things done at work, it may be a great opportunity to plan the next adventure or piece of joy! While it may not be planning out the details of your next family vacation, considering you just got back, as humans, we love having something to look forward to. You could brainstorm possible vacation destinations, plan a dinner party with friends, schedule a brunch date with someone you haven’t seen in a while, or even plan your trip to the state fair. When we have something to look forward to at the end of the week, month, or year, it helps those daunting tasks and overflowing emails to feel a little lighter.
6. Bonus: Don’t let the day-to-day crowd out your best memories of the time away!
You’ve invested time and likely some money into much needed R&R. Pick a handful of memories from that down time that were good, and relive them. Whether through photos, souvenirs, or stories, recreate those moments a few times over so that they stick in your memories. Take time either with those who went with you, or with those who want to hear about it to relive some of your favorite moments, and let those fond feelings from your time away refresh you periodically as if you were still there.
Any period of transition comes with its share of challenges and difficulties, and coming back to work after being away is no different. We can feel unmotivated, stressed, or even overwhelmed, but I hope you find these tips make the transition all the smoother. Afterall, change is a process, not a single event, which is one of the core tenets of our Change Makers Certification Program! We also have lots of change and transition resources on our Change and Transition page if you’re interested in more helpful tips and words of encouragement!
