At this time of year we hear more and more about post-vacation blues – what is it?
Post-vacation blues – some people also call it post-travel depression – is increasingly common. To try to face it effectively, we must first try to understand what it is and how it manifests in us. First of all, it is important to distinguish between different symptoms. This syndrome can manifest itself from time to time with exhaustion, lack of motivation, dissatisfaction, anxiety, sadness and so on. What is the symptom we feel most? This is the first question to ask. Because the symptoms are like threads that when rewired allow us to understand the ultimate causes that trigger this phenomenon.
But why do we experience these sensations precisely upon returning from vacation?
Generally speaking, on vacation we spend more time outdoors in close contact with nature, we have slower rhythms, and consequently we become more aware of our own needs. The moment we return to an enclosed place, full of commitments grappling with rhythms that are not natural, it is quite normal to manifest some form of stress. Not to mention that when we return, the season remains temperate anyway and still makes us want to be outdoors having fun.
So should we resign ourselves to this stress once we return?
Not necessarily. There are strategies to counteract this. First of all, because it is a psychophysical syndrome, both the mental and physical sides of the problem need to be addressed. On the physical side, it is good to try to stay outdoors and exercise as much as possible. On the mental side, on the other hand, it can be helpful to take time to fix memories of the good times experienced during the summer break. In general, it is important to start getting active step by step and not to dive into the work immediately headfirst.
In fact, sometimes the problem is too sharp a break between work life and personal life, so that the vacation is all about one’s own needs, while upon return one cancels oneself out in work, losing touch with oneself. We need to move away from the model of work-life balance (i.e., clean separation of work and personal life) and instead try to organically and consistently incorporate moments of self-care into our work routines.
Can you give us examples of these self-care moments?
Sure. Self-care can be as simple as taking a walk, lying down for a moment, looking back at vacation photos, enjoying a moment of solitude with yourself and with nature. Not least because we now know that in this great benefit that vacations bring us largely depends on the fact that we are able to be more in touch with nature. And this has a rejuvenating power, especially for those who live hours and hours locked in a hospital or a laboratory. In essence, it is useful to start taking little breaks, little “oases” even during our working days. And in these basic breaks to seek out those things we most appreciate on vacation: being outdoors, slowing down the pace, perceiving more of the world around us: paying attention to colors, sounds, smells, tastes (perhaps of food cooked in a different way).
If then our working lifestyle back from vacation no longer satisfies us, it is also a matter of understanding why. What’s wrong with my work? Maybe it is also time to make some small or maybe even big changes. So from a psychological point of view, we need to really understand what is our source of dissatisfaction.
So can this syndrome also in some ways be useful to us?
Of course. The post-vacation blues makes us see more clearly some elements that were already present in our work life: elements of anxiety, dissatisfaction and so on. Then we can use these 2 or 3 weeks after aour holidays to regroup a bit.
But post-vacation blues is not only useful to understand what is wrong with my work, but also to understand what I particularly enjoyed about my vacation. And this is crucial as it makes me understand what makes me feel really good. Because there are those who feel good in the mountains, those who feel good at the beach, those who feel good resting in the shade, those who feel good sunbathing, those who prefer to cook, those who prefer to go out to dinner, and so on. These are little things, however, that make us realize what our real needs are.
Getting to know ourselves is not exactly trivial, because routine and especially work depersonalize us. We follow rhythms dictated by others, while on vacation we are more able to follow our own rhythms and needs. So it is good to bring into our work life some of the self-knowledge we have gained during our vacation.
In doing so we make the work-vacation split less hard: reentry is a time of heightened awareness that can help us understand how to make these two worlds a little more integrated with each other. Those who are fortunate enough to work from home are very advantaged in this; of course, unfortunately, it is not a viable option in all professions.
Exactly, there are certain professions, such as healthcare, that cannot be done from home, and those are professions that by their very nature are more stressful than others and lead more easily to burnout. I know that you have dealt with this a lot in your work, so I ask you, can post-vacation blues be an additional trigger for burnout in health care workers?
Here we are in a field where post-vacation blues worsens an already critical situation in itself. In fact, burnout among health care staff is widespread and occurs when the satisfaction we have with a job we are passionate about and have chosen (many of the health care staff choose to work in that field because they have a strong personal motivation) no longer compensates for all the stress we experience on a daily basis. When these two sides of the scale – satisfaction and stress – no longer offset each other we have burnout.
Today what most undermines satisfaction is on the one hand excessive workload, and on the other hand often disregard by patients (who are increasingly demanding and sometimes even go so far as to threaten health care personnel, or at least disregard them). And this is an issue that clearly goes beyond the post-vacation blues. Of course, in this period these things are thrown at us even more forcefully.
The solution, even for health care professionals, is to take better and better care of ourselves, because everyone has to try to fit the right moments of recovery into their routine. There is a tendency to underestimate the importance that sleep, rest, and silence have. However, if you want to take care of yourself a space to these things must necessarily be found. On a psychological level, those who take care of others are often inclined to neglect themselves and their own needs. And instead this paradigm needs to be changed, perhaps by taking some time away from work for a moment of recovery, for a self-care break.