Bouncing back from the holiday hangover

Building in a day or a weekend back home after a vacation can help ease back into the daily work routine

- Reem Khokhar

Viraj Kapadia, 29, who takes a weeklong vacation every six months, recently returned from a hiking trip in Meghalaya. The Lonavala-based architect is an associate at Localground, a Pune-based architecture practice, and his daily office commute takes 3-4 hours. After his return, Kapadia is finding it challenging to transition back to the daily travel schedule, and work mode—something he experiences each time after a holiday. I wish I could feel more excited about working after a break, but it is difficult to get back to work and commuting, he says.

It is common to experience holiday hangover—those feelings of anxiety, dread, sadness and listlessness that make transitioning back to work difficult. Besides getting time to rest, time away from work also provides an opportunity to reflect, and break old habits. But, after some initial enthusiasm, it can be challenging to sustain better habits, like less screentime, quality sleep, a better diet and more movement, that one might have adopted during a break.

Can one really stay committed to their holiday gains once they are back to hectic office schedules? It's not impossible, as Mint found out while talking to some professionals across the country.

TRANSITION TIPS
A 2020 survey of 1,100 American workers by software company Zapier showed that 87% respondents experienced post-vacation syndrome. Some of the least anticipated tasks included returning to the routine (37%), administrative work (31%), and dealing with an avalanche of unread emails (26%).

Kapadia follows a simple strategy to deal with all of the above: dedicating the first four-five post-vacation days to simpler tasks and then tackling more complex work assignments.

The quality of your vacation also impacts your return to work. Every three-four months, Noida-based public relations professional Bhumika Rawal, 21, takes a break and returns to her hometown—most recently for a week in June.