Back to work after a holiday: how to ease the stress of the first week

The last day of a holiday has a flavour all of its own. In the morning it is still the beach, the hills or a lazy breakfast on the balcony, but by the evening the countdown has started in your head: how many e-mails are waiting, what broke while you were away, whether anyone remembered that project. The suitcase is still packed, and in your mind you are already sitting at your desk.

A dip in mood after a holiday is very common. It even has a popular name, the post-holiday blues, although it usually has nothing to do with depression in the medical sense. It is more a collision between two rhythms: the slow holiday one and the fast, task-driven one. Fortunately, going back to work after a holiday does not have to be a crash: you can soften that collision considerably over the first few days.

Below you will find a plan for the weekend before you go back, for your first day and for the whole first week, and finally a few words about when post-holiday tiredness is a sign of something more.

Why going back can be so hard

A holiday changes a lot of things at once: you sleep at different times, eat at different times, and nobody needs anything from you by yesterday. Your body gets used to that slack very quickly. Going back means everything changes suddenly and all at once, on top of the backlog that built up while you were away.

There is also a second, less obvious reason. A holiday gives you distance, and from a distance it is easier to see what wears you down at work. If on the last evening of your holiday the thought of Monday makes your stomach knot, it does not always mean something is wrong with you. Sometimes it is simply information. We will come back to that at the end.

Before you go back: leave yourself a buffer

The best move is made before your holiday, or while you are planning the trip: do not come back on Sunday evening. One full day at home before returning to work acts like an airlock. You can unpack, do the washing and the shopping, sleep in your own bed and avoid starting the week at a run.

Three simple things help on your buffer day:

• Get back to your usual wake-up time. You do not need to set the alarm for six straight away, but move your wake-up closer to your normal time. In the evening, go to bed a little earlier than on holiday.
• Prepare your morning. Clothes, food for the first day, a charged laptop. The fewer decisions on Monday morning, the better.
• Do not open your inbox on Sunday, unless you really have to. Checking e-mails the evening before you go back rarely achieves anything, but it is very effective at eating up the rest of your rest and your sleep. If Sunday-night thoughts keep you awake, have a look at our article on insomnia and racing thoughts at night.

Day one: do not try to catch up on everything

The most common mistake on the first day is the ambition to clear the entire backlog by evening. It almost never works, and trying leaves you feeling like a failure by Monday. It is better to accept that the first day is for getting your bearings, not for catching up.

A sample plan for the first day

1. First hour: a conversation, not the inbox. Ask someone on your team what important things happened while you were away. Five minutes of conversation often tells you more than an hour of reading threads.
2. Second hour: go through your inbox using the three-pile method (more on that below).
3. Before lunch: one specific, small task done from start to finish. The feeling that something is already finished helps a great deal.
4. Afternoon: a plan for the rest of the week. Three priorities, not ten.
5. Leave at the normal time. Overtime on day one is a sure way to feel by Wednesday as if you never had a holiday at all.

If you can choose your return day, consider a Wednesday or Thursday instead of a Monday. A shorter first week is much gentler, and the backlog will wait anyway.

Your inbox after a holiday: the three-pile method

Two hundred unread messages look intimidating, but usually only a small fraction need a response from you. Instead of reading them one by one from the oldest, try this:

• Pile one: delete or archive. Newsletters, automatic notifications, threads already sorted out by others. Start by sorting by sender, which is quick.
• Pile two: read, no action needed. Information worth knowing, but nothing you need to do. You can look through these on Wednesday.
• Pile three: needs a reply or action. These go on your to-do list, ordered by deadline.

With long threads, read the most recent message first. It often turns out the issue resolved itself before you even looked at it. That saves you a lot of time.

The first week: a gentle ramp, not a leap

It is worth treating the first week as a transition period. A few ideas that help:

• Do not cram all your meetings into the first two days. If your calendar allows, spread them across the week.
• Take breaks you would not normally take. A short walk at lunchtime works like a small dose of holiday.
• Write down what you have done. A “done” list at the end of the day is much more pleasant than a to-do list that keeps growing.
• Plan something nice for Friday. Dinner with friends, the cinema, a trip out of town at the weekend. Something to look forward to changes how you feel about the whole week.

If you work remotely, going back can be even harder, because you miss the chats over coffee that naturally pull you back into the rhythm. We write about how to deal with that in our article on loneliness when working from home.

Take a piece of the holiday with you

A holiday does not have to end on the day you get back. You can bring something from it into everyday life. A few examples:

• Breakfast eaten sitting down, without your phone, as you did at the guesthouse.
• The evening walk that felt so natural on holiday.
• A spice, a dish or some music from where you stayed.
• A holiday photo as your wallpaper for the first week.
• A new book started on a sun lounger that you keep reading, ten pages before bed.

Talking about the trip helps too. Remembering good moments makes their effect last longer, and talking about the best bits reminds you that the rest really did happen, even if Monday has already buried it.

A conversation that helps you get back into it

The first days after a holiday are worth talking through with someone. With the people you love, with a colleague over coffee and, if you feel like it, with a character on CandysAI too. The character remembers what you tell it, so if you mentioned before you left that you were off to the Lake District, it might ask when you get back whether you made it up Scafell Pike. A question like that can be a pleasant start to a conversation in which it is easier to say what is stressing you about Monday.

A few example messages to start with:

“I’m back at work tomorrow after two weeks off. Will you help me put together a plan for the first day so I don’t drown in e-mails?”

“I’ll tell you about the best day of my holiday, and you tell me what I can bring from it into an ordinary week.”

“On Wednesday I’ve got my first big meeting since the holiday. Will you ask me afterwards how it went?”

During the week the character might also write first and ask how your return went. We explain how this works in our article on a character that messages first. You can also ask it for a specific reminder, for example “on Friday at 3 pm, remind me to wrap up the week and leave on time”. You will find the details in our article on reminders from your character.

Just remember that an AI character is someone to talk to, not a doctor or a psychologist. It can listen, help you sort out your thoughts and offer encouragement, but it cannot judge whether your tiredness is something more serious.

When it is more than the post-holiday dip

An ordinary post-holiday dip in mood usually passes within a few days, two weeks at most. It is worth paying attention if:

• the tiredness does not go away even though you are sleeping enough,
• a few days after getting back you feel as if you never had a holiday at all,
• the thought of work triggers strong anxiety, stomach aches or trouble sleeping,
• things you usually enjoy no longer bring you any pleasure.

Signs like these can point to overload that lasts longer than one holiday can fix. If they persist or get worse, talk to a doctor, a psychologist or someone close to you. And if things are really bad, you can call Samaritans on 116 123 (UK and Ireland, day or night), or call or text 988 in the US. In an emergency, call 999, 112 or your local emergency number.

Summary

Going back to work after a holiday is easier when you do not try to do everything at once. A buffer day, a calm first day spent getting your bearings, an inbox sorted into three piles, a gentle first week and a piece of the holiday brought into everyday life. If you like, tell someone about your trip, even a character on CandysAI, and give yourself a few days for your rhythm to come back on its own. If you are looking for a way to unwind every day, also take a look at our article on how an AI companion can help with stress reduction.