Why Is It So Hard to Go Back to Work After a Vacation?

When Edward White, head of growth at beehiiv, went on a weeklong retreat to a wildlife sanctuary over the summer, he was elated. He used the time to unplug, leaving behind excessive phone usage, emails, and anything else that kept him rushing around everywhere. By the time he had to head home, he felt completely refreshed. That feeling didn’t last, though.

“As soon as I walked into my apartment and saw the piles of laundry, the unanswered texts, and the looming list of work tasks, my mind immediately shifted into overdrive,” he tells Mental Floss. “The peaceful mindset I’d developed during the vacation evaporated almost instantly. It was like being thrust back into a whirlwind after a long period of calm, and I could feel the anxiety building up, especially as I started thinking about everything I had to catch up on.”

It's a feeling that happens to all of us at times, and that anxiety upon returning home can lead to post-vacation depression, or “post-holiday blues.” It makes going back to work especially hard.

Post-Holiday Blues Might Highlight Existing Dissatisfaction with Work
Coping with Post-Vacation Depression

Post-Holiday Blues Might Highlight Existing Dissatisfaction with Work

“I think it happens primarily with people who aren’t feeling tremendous inspiration to do the work that they’re doing,” says Art Markman, a psychology professor at University of Texas at Austin and founding director of the Human Dimensions of Organizations program at the school. “For some people, they really don’t like the tasks that they’re doing, and for others, the tasks may be OK, but they really don’t feel a sense of mission in the work that they’re doing.”

Essentially, Markman tells Mental Floss, people who typically suffer from the post-holiday blues have a structured work routine of getting up and going to work at the same time, working, and then heading home at the same time. A vacation of any length disrupts that schedule, creating a psychological distance from the job.

“The further you are from something, the more abstractly you tend to think about it,” he says. “When you take that step back from {work} by taking a vacation, you start thinking about it more abstractly, which begins to raise concerns about, ‘I really hate the people, I really hate the work, I really hate the mission.’ At that level, you start thinking, ‘wow, everything I’m doing on a grand scale isn’t amounting to anything.’ That can then really sap your motivation to want to get back to work.”

Symptoms of the post-holiday blues usually kick in a few days before you have to go back to work—usually about the time you stop thinking about what relaxing thing you’re going to do the next day, and instead start focusing on what stress is awaiting you at the office. It starts with feeling a bit of dread, then possibly trouble sleeping. Eventually you try to avoid all thoughts about work, including actively avoiding any conversations with anyone who wants to talk about any type of work. What you’re left with is sudden overwhelm and anxiety, plus a general irritability that can linger for a while even after you return to work.

Avoiding this type of stress requires a mindset shift. For White, he has to give himself permission to feel a little bit off.

Coping with Post-Vacation Depression

“I told myself that it’s OK not to be instantly productive,” he said. “Being gentle with myself alleviated the pressure I was putting on my own performance and helped me slowly but surely ease back into my regular programming.”

Markman suggests that you take the time to acknowledge that your work isn’t going to be what fulfills you, at least for a little while. Instead, it’s a way to pay the bills or build experience to move to something more rewarding in the future.

“You have to start by acknowledging, ‘I shouldn't be thinking about my work as something that’s going to be giving me a lot of meaning in my life,’ ” he says. At the same time, give yourself some space at home to include activities that are meaningful for you—like learning a new instrument, going out and making new friends, or picking up painting.

Also, try not to panic. The post-holiday blues are a common experience, and you’re definitely not alone.

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