Vacation Guilt
August 15, 2022
Well, I am back in the office after a magical few weeks on my honeymoon in Greece.
Womp womp.
I won’t lie, it is a bit sad to be back into a daily routine after so many days of adventure and spontaneity. Exploring without schedule or structure is vastly underrated.
I have to be honest though - it was a challenge to drop into “vacation mode”.
I couldn't figure it out. I would get up from my beach chair, restless, diving into the cool and refreshing water of the Aegean Sea, unable to escape the feeling that there was something I was supposed to be doing. It was akin to leaving the house feeling like you had forgotten to turn off the oven even though you had checked and rechecked five times before leaving.
The feeling was persistent, and lingered like a small mosquito (so many bites this month!) buzzing in my ear that I couldn’t shake. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was until a day had passed. Was it jetlag? Was it Covid?
Guilt! I was feeling guilty.
Guilty that I wasn’t working, guilty that I was not available to my patients at a moments notice, guilty that I was reneging on my responsibility as a business owner and leaving not only the town, but the country and multiple time zones to be completely and totally incommunicado.
It seems I had forgotten how to relax when it was not pre-booked on my schedule. My body was saying DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE! You don't have all day to lie around! When in fact I absolutely had all day to lie around. Nothing but time.
I couldn’t help but look around at all the Europeans on holiday, couples and families who were lounging and drinking and smoking and laughing, truly seeming like they hadn't a care in the world.
Did you know that 27 states in the European Union require their citizens to take one month off from working each year? It's GOVERNMENT MANDATED.
I'm starting to think the eatsleepworkrinserepeat mentality of the US is a touch too ingrained in us all.
With a holiday weekend coming up, and people making their returns back to school and routine, we’re all in danger feeling like there is somewhere else we need to be, something we should be doing, that we need to plan for what comes next.
If you are on vacation this week/weekend and feel unable to 'drop in' to vacation mode, remind yourself:
It is OK to rest.
It’s OK to do absolutely nothing productive, and just enjoy for the sake of enjoying.
I encourage you to luxuriate in it. Life will still be there when you get back, and you will be there to tend to it.
It took a day or so, but I managed to get past my vacation guilt once I had this epiphany, and had a DELIGHTFUL time. I came back feeling relaxed, recharged, and ready to do what I do best.
Happy long weekend!
In health and relaxation,
Amanda