post-vacation blues anyone?

[simple girl]

DH and I returned from yet another great cruise Saturday. We had so much fun and relaxed the entire time. Never thought about work.

However, we have to return to work tomorrow, and I've got a major case of the post-vacation blues. It's not that I don't like my job, but I just really, really would rather not have that kind of stress in my life.

I'm really wishing we were FIRED today! It seems like a far, far away dream.

Anyone else get the post-vacation blues? Any tips for pulling out of it?

 

[bbbamI]

Start planning your next vacation....

 

[haha]

Anyone else get the post-vacation blues? Any tips for pulling out of it?

Vodka often worked for me.

Ha

 

[W2R]

DH and I returned from yet another great cruise Saturday. We had so much fun and relaxed the entire time. Never thought about work.

However, we have to return to work tomorrow, and I've got a major case of the post-vacation blues. It's not that I don't like my job, but I just really, really would rather not have that kind of stress in my life.

I'm really wishing we were FIRED today! It seems like a far, far away dream.

Anyone else get the post-vacation blues? Any tips for pulling out of it?

Frank and I feel this way even on Sundays, these days, because soon we will have to return to work.

I think it does help to try planning your next vacation. Don't know about the vodka cure since I don't drink the stuff.

 

[Dawg52]

Not in the last 2 years.

 

[harley]

Vodka often worked for me.

Ha

Unless they cruised to Mexico, in which case it should be tequila.

 

[aaronc879]

Vodka often worked for me.

Ha

I think Vodka is for during your vacation not after it. My employer frowns on people having vodka at work.

 

[JOHNNIE36]

What do you think of this for a "vacation"? We live in the Tampa area but quite a ways inland. Used to live on Ft. Myers Beach. Left there in 1998 and really miss the beach and the area in general. Guess we were so used to being on the beach that being within 45 minutes of the beach now just doesn't interest us. Haven't been to the beach since we moved up here. So, we're looking for a rental condo on Ft. Myers Beach in August just to get back to the old stomping grounds. We want right on the beach so we can see the sunsets again and watch the surf roll in, take a cup of coffee with us in the morning and stroll the beach. We can't wait. Wouldn't be surprised if it didn't prompt us to pull up stakes and move back.

 

[Alan]

DH and I returned from yet another great cruise Saturday. We had so much fun and relaxed the entire time. Never thought about work.

However, we have to return to work tomorrow, and I've got a major case of the post-vacation blues. It's not that I don't like my job, but I just really, really would rather not have that kind of stress in my life.

I'm really wishing we were FIRED today! It seems like a far, far away dream.

Anyone else get the post-vacation blues? Any tips for pulling out of it?

We just got back from a month vacation, flew in from England on a Tuesday (after midnight), drove from Houston to Baton Rouge on the Wednesday and went to work on the Thursday - 10 days later and still got the vacation blues.

As for a cure, try........ nope, can't think of one, sorry.

 

[Rustic23]

When I was working, I never really liked taking a vacation. The vacation was always nice, but the return worse then staying. No one else does your work and the problems you left behind were there when you returned, generally worse. Now we are retired we don't take vacations! We are always on vacation, and we takes trips. I posted our last on here and it was our first since retiring. It was great, and when we returned it was even better.

 

[FIREd]

I really enjoy going on vacation but after 10-12 days I am ready to come home. So I rarely get post vacation blues.

 

[Rambler]

FIREdreamer - I always feel like I'm ready to go home...

Ditto to W2R - Sunday night is horrible. For me, that feeling of dread has crept into Sunday morning. Soon, it will be Saturday night, then Saturday morning. When the dread reaches friday afternoon, it'll be time to go.

As for cures to the post-vacation blues, the only one I can think of is to go on permanent vacation...FIRE!

R

 

[harley]

When I was working, I never really liked taking a vacation. The vacation was always nice, but the return worse then staying. No one else does your work and the problems you left behind were there when you returned, generally worse. Now we are retired we don't take vacations! We are always on vacation, and we takes trips. I posted our last on here and it was our first since retiring. It was great, and when we returned it was even better.

I was in the same boat. I took the pager on vacation, worked the phones, even cancelled out on a couple of trips. Very rough on the marriage and family relationships. Even when I went, I didn't start relaxing until about the next to the last day, then had to start packing up to go back. I was grumpy on vacation and glad to get back to work.

Over time I started accumulating more vacation, and Megacorp started a "use it or lose it" policy. So I started taking two week vacations, at least once/year. I still didn't relax until day 4 or so, but then I had a full week of relaxation before heading back. At that point I started enjoying life and family time better than work. After 7 or 8 years of this I was so ready to bail on the job that when I got an early out offer I took it and ran. Now I'm always on vacation, and no more blues. Sweet!

 

[simple girl]

I get the Sunday blues, too...but this post-vacation blues feeling is much worse. <sigh>

We were ready to come home, see our kitties, etc., but we aren't ready to go back to w*rk....

Well, I am taking Ha's advice (except my drink of choice is gin).

I will also take the advice of planning our next vacation. That helped the last time I experienced this (although the blues seem much worse this time).

Thanks everyone for the support

 

[Meadbh]

When I used to take only one vacation a year, my mood would get quite depressed toward the end of the vacation, thinking "this is IT for a whole year!!!". I used to dread going back to work. So now I take four 1 week vacations per year at my vacation condo. When I'm getting ready to leave, I think "just three months till I can enjoy this again!"

 

[Alan]

Coming back from a 2 week or longer vacation, the e-mail is horrendous, but I figured a way around that issue a number of years ago. Thanks to the very restrictive IT policies our mail files are limited to 100MB after which they stop receiving until you do some archiving or deleting.

So, I keep a selection of very large attachments on my hard drive then the day I leave on vacation I fill up by mail file with draft e-mail that I will never send. Day after I leave, e-mail starts getting returned to sender so they know not to expect a reply and I don't have 500+ e-mail to wade through on return.

 

[W2R]

I get the Sunday blues, too...but this post-vacation blues feeling is much worse. <sigh>

We were ready to come home, see our kitties, etc., but we aren't ready to go back to w*rk....

Well, I am taking Ha's advice (except my drink of choice is gin).

I will also take the advice of planning our next vacation. That helped the last time I experienced this (although the blues seem much worse this time).

Thanks everyone for the support

Maybe you can plan something short but special for next weekend, like a day trip? Sounds like you need something right now! Sorry to hear the blues are so bad this time.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Probably better to just face the reality and realize you got awhile longer to go. If you keep turning to alcohol it might become a habit.

 

[Rambler]

When I used to take only one vacation a year, my mood would get quite depressed toward the end of the vacation, thinking "this is IT for a whole year!!!". I used to dread going back to work. So now I take four 1 week vacations per year at my vacation condo. When I'm getting ready to leave, I think "just three months till I can enjoy this again!"

I also take four vacations a year, and it really does help. Two of them are about a week, and two are usually 2-3 weeks depending on how the holidays fall. Megacorp pays for them when they are home leave trips (most of them are...).

But, I don't have any choice but to be on email during that time, due to the approval controls we have in place. I carry a smartphone around, check and respond to "urgent and important" and leave the rest for when I have computer time. Then I just clean up the CCs and FYIs with a quick skim. In my role, I don't necessarily have to be around all the time to get the job done, but I do need to be accessible when the need is great. On the other hand, my guys know better than to access me if they are empowered to decide themselves.

So, taking more vacations helps. The time away, even if it is just a few days, is very worthwhile, if you can immediately transition into vacation mode.

R

 

[NW-Bound]

The last couple of months, I have been taking time off from vacation to go to work.

 

[Rambler]

The last couple of months, I have been taking time off from vacation to go to work.

Touche

R

 

[CuppaJoe]

I'm such a newbie at retirement, sometimes I forget I don't have to go back to work. I was sick recently and had what appeared to be lucid moments when horrible conscious nightmares overcame me. I was imagining dealing with returning to an overflowing in-box. I understand where you're at.

Maybe you could re-live your cruise by showing us some pix as well as planning the next one.

 

[vicente solano]

I frequently dream of work situations, all of them umpleasant. I think it´s some sort of confirmation of how miserable I was in my job.

 

[GoodSense]

I had a serious case of vacation blues when I came back from Costa Rica in April. I felt as though I was having a great time on a motorboat, riding the waves, and it suddenly hit a cliff and I was thrown head down onto a rock. I tried to ease back into the work life by looking at pictures and talking to people about it. It helped somewhat, but I had probably a 3-week low before I was able to feel like normal again.

I think the more relaxed the vacation, the worse the post-vacation blues. I, too, am usually unable to get totally relaxed until Day 4 or 5, so a 2-week vacation is great in that it does what it's supposed to -- relaxation. But that usually means a rude awakening when returning to w*rk.

I am also planning my next vacation, but it's still got a while to go. On the other hand, I also feel that too many vacations may delay my ER, although in the big picture the joy from the vacations seems outway the slight delay.

Let me know when you find a solution...Cheers!

 

[simple girl]

I think the more relaxed the vacation, the worse the post-vacation blues.

Wow, I agree with you whole-heartedly on that one. This I think was absolutely the most relaxed we both have EVER been on a vacation. DH and I both feel this is the worst blues we've ever had after a vacation.

Well, it was Day 1 back to work today for me. Feeling quite a bit better. I got thrown into tons of stuff to do and just didn't have time to let myself feel bad. DH, however, who works from home some of the time, had a much more difficult time readjusting. Someone invited him to the park, and so he took some more time off.

The other thing that helps is yesterday someone told me she has been out of work since December. Made me be thankful to have a job, and one that I rather like at that. So putting it into this perspective helped, too.