Vacation is Stressful
I just took a week's vacation. After being back at work for two days, I am wiped out!
I thought I was supposed to feel recharged and ready for my next challenge after a vacation?!?
The reality is, there's no such thing as going back to work refreshed.
Instead, you go back to work after a vacation and get destroyed because your body has forgotten how to operate on 20% less sleep and 100% more stress. It's a shock to the system that leaves you craving more time off.
But wait...there's more!
After returning to work from a vacation you are inundated by people trying to update you on all the shit that went down in your absence. Upon your return, colleagues will also take advantage by dumping work on you.
Worse yet, you return to an inbox containing hundreds of unread emails that only punctuate the insanity of what you do for a living, now that you've had a few days away to gain perspective.
Of course, that is only looking at the tail end of your vacation. The days leading up to vacation are spent working overtime to wrap up tasks and ensure projects don't go off the rails in your absence.
Going on vacation is stressful. Returning from vacation is stressful.
Some try to keep ahead and ease the stress of their return by checking emails while away. God help you if you make this mistake. Every minute you check emails requires 5 minutes to decompress from work insanity. Anytime ive checked my emails while on holiday I immediately felt a flood of stress hormones cascade through my body, easily ruining a half day. Don't make that mistake.
I'm starting to think it's almost not worth taking a vacation at all. Still, you won't catch me handing my hard earned vacation days back to my employer. It is valuable family time that is worth a little stress.