Happy Thought #10: Battling post vacation syndrome
When you're in vacation it's always a happy and exciting feeling. You forget work, you forget responsibilities and you stay away from home that sometimes may be a bit congested for you. But vacations are not meant to be taken forever. It's meant just to let the person recharge to resume what he had left off. The post vacation syndrome happens when you arrive at your home from vacation. Sometimes it starts as early as preparing yourself to go to the airport.
I do suffer from this syndrome all the time and it's not nice. I feel extra tired, anxious and sad. It's as if you need a whole day to recuperate and get the city vibe back before you plunge in to responsibilities, meetings, emails, stress and all the good stuff that come with it. Sometimes at work, coming straight from a long vacation, I've proven myself to be less productive. I don't react fast, I take my time and I still have glimpses of my happy vacation.
One of the remedies I've figured out is to take another day off like today. I don't fly back and resume work the next day. I usually take one more day off to adjust. I drive around the metro, interact with the usual, use the computer regularly, stay connected and be online, visit the malls even and accomplish my usual errands. In that way I'm getting my old life back and the transition would be smooth. It's not as drastic as immediately going back to work when you clearly didn't do anything to put the happy memories at the back of your mind. By having an extra time off in the city it's as if I'm just enjoying another day in the weekend before Monday. By doing this, I get to slowly put back the happy, casual vacation mode by being preoccupied. I will not be anchored by the temporary happiness because I get to do stuff at my own pace. I can freely move on and get more excited to finish what I've left off at work.
It's a happy thought that I'm doing the remedy of post-vacation syndrome right now. At least I'm not that clueless anymore. I might walk Bruce to the park later, read, arrange my shelf, go to the mall to fix some bills and blog the whole day until I get sick of it. I've learned how to cope and be on top of things. I know by tomorrow, I'll be okay.
When you're in vacation it's always a happy and exciting feeling. You forget work, you forget responsibilities and you stay away from home that sometimes may be a bit congested for you. But vacations are not meant to be taken forever. It's meant just to let the person recharge to resume what he had left off. The post vacation syndrome happens when you arrive at your home from vacation. Sometimes it starts as early as preparing yourself to go to the airport.
I do suffer from this syndrome all the time and it's not nice. I feel extra tired, anxious and sad. It's as if you need a whole day to recuperate and get the city vibe back before you plunge in to responsibilities, meetings, emails, stress and all the good stuff that come with it. Sometimes at work, coming straight from a long vacation, I've proven myself to be less productive. I don't react fast, I take my time and I still have glimpses of my happy vacation.
One of the remedies I've figured out is to take another day off like today. I don't fly back and resume work the next day. I usually take one more day off to adjust. I drive around the metro, interact with the usual, use the computer regularly, stay connected and be online, visit the malls even and accomplish my usual errands. In that way I'm getting my old life back and the transition would be smooth. It's not as drastic as immediately going back to work when you clearly didn't do anything to put the happy memories at the back of your mind. By having an extra time off in the city it's as if I'm just enjoying another day in the weekend before Monday. By doing this, I get to slowly put back the happy, casual vacation mode by being preoccupied. I will not be anchored by the temporary happiness because I get to do stuff at my own pace. I can freely move on and get more excited to finish what I've left off at work.
It's a happy thought that I'm doing the remedy of post-vacation syndrome right now. At least I'm not that clueless anymore. I might walk Bruce to the park later, read, arrange my shelf, go to the mall to fix some bills and blog the whole day until I get sick of it. I've learned how to cope and be on top of things. I know by tomorrow, I'll be okay.
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