Let's Fight Return-from-Vacation Anxiety

I'd like to offer you an exercise to avoid burning out half an hour after getting back from vacation.

I see you.

You're still there, half-soaked, it's still warm but it no longer feels like you're inside a wood-fired oven, and there are fewer people on the beach too. What a lovely feeling.

But this pleasantness triggers a thought, far at the back of your mind, like the ticking of an old clock, a countdown: soon you too will have to leave those white beaches behind.

And what awaits you at home?

The cat, the dog, the basil (which, as tradition dictates, will have died on you), family, friends, the suitcase to unpack, laundry to do, the new series to start, work, social media...

Anxiety.

Let's Start on the Right Foot

It goes without saying, but starting off on the right foot is essential to avoid panicking and ending up in burnout within a week. Obviously, if you managed your vacation well, getting back will be easier and less stressful.

That said, to restart well you should avoid treating vacation and work like an on/off switch. No matter how much influencers tell us we need to disconnect and do detox weeks (when they're the first ones who NEVER do it, two days at most), believing you can disappear and come back as if nothing happened is a mistaken and counterproductive belief (unless it's part of a broad, well-thought-out strategy).

Let's think about the real world, outside of social media:

• a shop starts saying it will be closed for two weeks, not on the day it closes, but a couple of weeks before. That way it can manage customers so they aren't left without support during the closure period, maybe even securing work right after reopening;
• when it reopens, there may be loyal customers, but at least the first week will be slow, a time to get back up to speed. It will take a moment before people realize we're open again and return to their habits.

By flow I mean exactly this: don't roll the shutter up or down overnight.

Let's Learn to Create Our Own Flow

In my experience, and also thanks to several personal trainers who constantly remind me of the importance of habits, I've learned that a "gentle" transition between vacation and work is the best solution for our mental health.

To learn how to create this flow you first need to want to (no, ChatGPT can give you a framework, but it can't get inside your head and do it for you, sorry), then you need to create a proper calendar with all the "hot" dates of the year. Let's do an example now, starting from September:

• when did I decide to restart my work routine?
• do I have a back-to-work promo in mind? (from when to when?)
• do I have particular activities planned for autumn? (what are the important dates?)
• Black Friday, yes or no?
• Christmas?

Don't be afraid of missing pieces; you'll see that as you fill it in, everything comes back to you. After entering your work dates, add:

• days off (do you work on holidays? and Sundays? family celebrations?)
• any vacations
• personal commitments (medical appointments, bank, etc.)

Make sure to mark everything that could eat into your workdays.

You'll see that just by doing this your mind will feel lighter, because planning helps you feel in control of your work and your life.

This can be your first exercise for learning how to create a relaxed transition back from vacation: take an afternoon and make your calendar, calmly, on whatever medium you prefer. The important thing is that you can see the whole calendar with the key items at a glance.

Then, on another day, you sit down and start making a list of tasks for every activity on the calendar. For example: you want to run a back-to-school promo, so you'll need to

• structure the communication (how many posts, graphics, copy, etc.)
• define publication dates
• decide whether to run a sponsored post
• consider a newsletter
• etc.

Once you've made the list, schedule everything in your planner.

The Hard Part Is Done

Day by day you'll start devoting more and more time to work tasks, and in this way your return will be gradual rather than hitting you like a concrete wall. Restarting with a positive mindset will shift your approach to work and make everything much lighter, which I know for many of you is not the case.

Unfortunately we're used to pushing until the very last moment before vacation, even taking on a client the morning before a flight just so we don't lose them, or scheduling a call on the evening we get back from vacation. The problem is that this inevitably loads us with a level of stress that is decidedly excessive.

Let's start telling our clients that we won't be available during that window, building in a few buffer days, and let's learn to give our mental health the space it deserves, because our work and, above all, our life depend on it.