Pre-Vacation Blahs

I originally planned to write a Time Management Part 2 - Evenings blog, but I just cannot get myself motivated to do it this week.  I plan to go back to it in the future, so hopefully you will see it soon.

Today, I decided to write about the Pre-Vacation Blahs.  I have been suffering from this common ailment for the past few days.  I am scheduled to be on vacation from work for all of next week.  I will be going back to Pennsylvania for three days at the beginning of the week for my sister’s baby shower.  The rest of the week will be spent in blissful hibernation here at home.  I have no real plans once I return to Virginia, except one scheduled facial on Tuesday.  I have some half-formed ideas to go furniture shopping to start planning for what I want to do with the front room.  I have a few cleaning projects I might try to knock out while no one else is home to bother me.  Mostly, I just plan to read, watch TV, and vegetate.  I just have to get through the rest of this week and I am ready to relax.  Unfortunately, I sometimes find it so hard to get through the last few days before vacation.  I become very restless and unmotivated to do anything, at work or at home.

I think there are two main reasons why I am having such a hard time.  The first is that I am completely burned out.  I really need this vacation, because I have not had a good break from work for a long time.  Although I have had a few non-holiday-related days off during the past few months, none of them have been particularly relaxing.  They have all been too short for me to completely unwind from work.  Plus, I tend to fill them with trips, errands, chores, or socialization of some kind.  The last full week I took off was in August when I took the trip to Seattle.  While that was definitely long enough to relax from work, it was still a busy time.  We spent just about every day with my husband’s cousins, sightseeing, and/or traveling.  I have not had a string of days for just me to do whatever I want in over a year (I think).  I have the trip to PA (which honestly I wish I was not doing).  Then I return to six full days off before I go back to work.  As long as I do not pressure myself to do too much around the house, I should have plenty of time to just relax and recharge.

The second reason I have the Pre-Vacation Blahs is that work is awful before a long scheduled vacation.  I have a list of things that I need to get done before I go away.  My job is a consistent monthly schedule of tasks that are due whether I am there or not.  Anything due while I am gone needs be done before I leave, completed by someone else while I am gone, or put at the top of the priority list for when I come back.  My coworkers are all busy with their own tasks, so while people will take care of any urgent questions that come up, no one will do any of my work unless I specifically ask them to do something.  What is not done before I leave will be waiting for me when I get back as will a ton of unread email.  My schedule is always overloaded, so there really is no good time to take vacations.  None of my work goes away, it all just gets pushed to before and after the vacation (hence why I get so burned out).  It all becomes overwhelming which makes me depressed which zaps my motivation to do much.  This depression follows me home, making my evenings less productive as well.

The Pre-Vacation Blahs are not much fun.  My week off is so close, but it seems like there is still so much work to do before I get there.  I just need to get through two more days of work.  Then, I am off.  While I know all the work will all be there waiting when I get back, I can at least pretend that nothing matters for a whole week.  If I can just make it there, I know I will enjoy myself.

What about you?  Do you ever suffer from the Pre-Vacation Blahs?  How do you get through it?

See you next week when hopefully I will be feeling relaxed and ready to blog!