Member-only story
Are you burned out even on vacation?
Here’s what to do.
Vacation is not supposed to feel like another stressor rather than the break you needed and earned.
That’s how vacations felt for me before I quit my burnout job back in 2019. I had to do so much work to prepare the program for my absence, even with the support of my colleagues. Then when I got back, I had things to catch up on, problems to solve, and reports to complete with short deadlines.
Was I doing work wrong or was I doing vacation wrong?
Whatever I was doing, I was doing my best.
I do wish, though, that I had taken vacations as a time to assess my burnout level, and then when I still felt stressed, that I had made a change. If you took your vacation already, was it great? Like how long did it take to unwind? I.e., How wound up were you? How did you feel about returning to work? Ready? A little reluctant? Worried? Totally panicking? Trying to figure out some way not to go back?
On vacation two years ago, I floated in the bliss of Lake Ontario, unable to relax, my chest tight like a clenched fist. My nervous system was in bad shape, and it took more than a few days in Prince Edward County to bring it back into alignment. I think I’ve accomplished it now - the other day I lay on my back at the Riverdale Park E pool and…