The Week After

It has been nearly a full week since the Christmas / New Year’s holidays concluded.  Of course this meant the kids had to go back to school and my wife and I had to go back to work.  As we have done the past couple of years, we took the week off between Christmas Eve and the day after New Years Day.  This year, with New Years falling on a Friday, that meant we got another full weekend to enjoy before returning to “normal life.”

I have come to really look forward to, and enjoy this time off.  It is a nice way to end the year.  It is especially nice because I find the actual holiday days so stressful, so it is important to have the other days to settle down a bit and relax.  What has become frustrating is the feelings I have the day or two before having to go back.  It doesn’t seem to matter how much time I take off, I never seem fully “ready” to get back to work.  The result is, I stop relaxing a full 48 hours earlier than I have too because I am thinking about how unready (is that a word?) I am to return to “normal life.”

Does anyone else have this experience?

Why does this happen?

It is not that I don’t like my job – but it does seem that it takes the better part of the first week before I am beginning to feel engaged again.  I understand it more this year than in past year.  This is because I had a To Do List that was very long during this past break.  Much to my surprise, as well as those who know me well, I managed to knock out about 80% of my list.  I kept myself very busy throughout the 11-day break.  For really the first time in my life, I decided I could keep myself pretty busy in retirement. During past breaks, I have often become “bored” at some point.  But despite those feelings of boredom, I still experience the same “start-up” challenges when I return to work.

So I ask again – why does that happen?  I would love to find a way to prevent these feelings in the future.  Anyone that has any great ideas, please post them in the comment area of this blog post. 

Besides just getting some suggestions on how to work around these sluggish feelings, I think I am just really trying to find comfort in knowing that others experience the same feelings I do.  I really desperate attempt to feel like I belong – I’ll admit it!