Life is busy. Some might even say that there’s no busier time than around the holidays. The holiday season offers a prime opportunity for visiting friends and family, cooking and baking, and, of course, resting, lounging, and relaxing. The world seems to slow down over that period between, say, December 22nd and those first few days of January. It’s expected—encouraged, even—that most people will take at least a few days off.

And, of course, taking time away from work is important when it comes to taking care of ourselves. However, if you’ve taken a bit of an extended break, as many of us do this time of year, you might find that transitioning from “vacation you” back into “regular life you” can be a bit of a struggle. 

Read on for some very helpful advice to assist you in picking up where you left off when it comes to work—in the healthiest way possible.

Take It Slow

If possible, don’t try to rush headlong into a packed schedule on your first day back at work. Reintroducing yourself to your routine gradually and easing back into the swing of things will keep your stress levels down and help you readjust to a pace that is more demanding than the one offered by lazy holiday afternoons. 

Allowing for some transition time means your return to work will feel less like an abrupt about-face and more like an easy step forward.

Break Things Up

If you haven’t picked up your laptop since before December 24th, it’s quite possible that you’ve grown accustomed to a slower pace. And that’s fine! So, in the spirit of taking your return to work slowly, allow yourself some short breaks during the day. If you’re feeling fired up and raring to go, that’s great, but it’s okay to struggle a little bit too. 

Take care of yourself and recognize what you need—if your brain is feeling a little fuzzy, take a step back from your desk and recalibrate. Enjoy a coffee, tea, or hot chocolate, make yourself a snack, watch a YouTube clip or two (but no more!)…just let your brain switch off for a little bit. I bet that when you sit back down at your desk, you’ll be feeling more refreshed and ready to focus again.

Make that To-Do List

Ideally, on your last day of work before your break, you would have left yourself some notes for when you do return to work—task lists, notes on projects that may be ongoing, or anything else that could help you out on that first day back. 

(And for tips on how to prep for your next vacation from work, check out our blog on doing just that!)

However, if you didn’t do that pre-holiday step, that’s okay too. It just means you’ll likely need to take some time to reorient yourself to where you left off all those days ago. Once you remember all that was going on before you last logged off, consider what needs to be done going forward. What tasks do you need to prioritize, and which can be attended to at a later date?

Keeping track of all these tasks (and their priority level) by making a to-do list is a great way to collect your thoughts, plan out your next few hours/days/weeks/etc., and make sure nothing is going to slip through the cracks. Keeping a tidy desk is important, but feeling like you have things organized and in hand is perhaps even more important.

Maintain Boundaries

Returning to work can be stressful. It’s possible that things may have piled up a bit in your absence, whether that’s unread emails, Slack messages, phone calls to be returned, or any combination of other things. 

However, it’s important to remain mindful of your boundaries when it comes to balancing work and life. You might feel tempted to power through all those piled-up items in your first few days back, but odds are that will only leave you feeling a step closer to burnt out when the week draws to a close. Going from zero to one hundred isn’t a very sustainable way to start off your new work year!

So, yes, attend to what needs to be done now. But make sure you take care of yourself too. Sign off at a reasonable hour, take those breaks, and take your lunch break! Close your email, make a sandwich, and eat it—slowly. Or enjoy some leftovers. I’m not picky, just eat something, drink something, and relax for a bit. 

Taking care of yourself starts with meeting the most basic needs of your body, and if you’ve ever had one of those busy days where you skip lunch and then look up at 3 PM to see your untouched water bottle, wondering why you suddenly feel so terrible, then you know that I’m right. 

Reflect!

The start of a new year is a great time to reflect on things—hence all the hubbub about resolutions and whatnot. I don’t necessarily believe in resolutions, per se, but I do think that now is a good time to think, on both the year that just ended and the year ahead, and to consider how you might want to do things differently moving forward. 

Set a goal or two for your work life (and your personal life too, while you’re at it!) and then figure out how you can reach that goal. You can even check out our recent blog for tips on how to set goals in a way that makes it as easy as possible for you to achieve them.

Work is such a big part of our lives that in many cases, the goals we want to set for ourselves are influenced by the demands and schedules of work. Spending more time with family, travelling more, even something as simple as sticking to a more frequent gym schedule—all these things can require a bit more planning when it comes to work. And that’s okay! 

It can come back to boundaries, too—easing off the gas a little to make more room for things that will bring you happiness, feelings of personal accomplishment, or a healthier lifestyle is a good thing. 

The start of a new year always feels like a bit of a transition, and periods of transition can offer some really wonderful opportunities to reevaluate and make changes, if we want to. So, take advantage of the opportunity. 

Take It Easy

It can be tempting to stretch yourself too thin, to take on too much. However, by making some allowances to adjust to your work routine again and to practise self-care, you can fully enjoy the benefits of your vacation time without sacrificing your well-being. 

All of these basic steps will leave you refreshed and ready to tackle your professional responsibilities again—without burning out. And enjoy the new year ahead!