Post Vacation Blues: Mom Edition
Aug 22, 2023
On Saturday night I got back from an 11 day trip to New York to visit family. You could call it a vacation (technically it was I guess), but it didn't necessarily feel like one. I wasn't sipping any pina coladas at the beach or getting luxurious massages after a day lounging by the pool. In all honesty, does anyone actually experience this on a "vacation" with kids? Probably not. That's besides the point.
This getaway was one of the longest, if not THE longest, trips I've ever taken since becoming a mom. I got confused with what day it was, worked the very minimum, and got used to a different time zone. What I didn't expect was that this "break" would put me in a weird funk after returning home.
As I thought about this concept, the post vacay blues, I decided to ask my BFF Google more about it. Was this a thing? Or was it just me? Do people feel this or am I weirdo? Why oh why did my Sunday feel like the dread of going back to school after a summer of careless tween behavior?
Turns out post vacation depression is actually a legit term and according to Goodrx.com, 1 out of every 5 Americans experience it. This weekend, I think I was in the 20%.
Sunday morning, after sleeping like a ROCK the night before (there's nothing like the feel of your own bed after being away), I felt EXHAUSTED. I chalked it up to my overindulgence in New York pizza, bagels, rainbow cookies, and chicken parmigiana. For someone who is normally 80% gluten free, my body was definitely feeling the carb hangover. But, in addition to my physical body feeling sluggish, something else was up: my mind was also working in slow-mo. I simply couldn't muster up the motivation to do the things I needed to do, yet I felt even worse not doing them. It was like I had fallen into a dark, damp, yucky hole and the thought of climbing out felt even more worse than sitting there waiting for some disgusting bug to climb on me.
I am normally VERY self motivated, so this really sucked and felt uncomfortable. And while I won't say it was my first time feeling this way, I definitely found it equal parts strange and scary. When people say, "Get outside your comfort zone", I don't think they mean get violently thrown into the depths of this.
Because I'm a mom and because I've got a laundry list of responsibilities, including feeding little humans, I forced myself to eventually get my booty out of bed around 9am (late in our home), change into real clothes, and organize some type of shopping list before heading out to the supermarket. Once I had completed this task, I started feeling slightly more normal. I followed that step with making myself a healthy breakfast-a spinach and cheddar omelet with avocado. Then, I experienced something I hadn't in nearly two weeks: silence. My hubs took all four kids to a football clinic, and I slowly started to come back to life.
As a 2:4 projector (do you know your human design? I highly suggest you listen to this podcast episode if you don't), I absolutely NEED alone time. In fact, this is what keeps me sane as a mom most of the time: having an hour a day completely alone-to meditate or work out or even my work sometimes will cut it. For nearly two weeks, I had had zero alone time, and I was feeling it. I was depleted of energy, patience, and brain power. I was also facing the reality of getting back to reality, and that felt overwhelming AF.
As someone who believes, "Overwhelm is a choice", I was faced with a decision at that time. I could wallow away in my own self loathing and choose to waste the day letting brain fog cloud my judgement or I could choose to let the sunshine push through the clouds and make it a brighter (even if it was partly cloudy) day. I chose the latter. Here's how I did it.
- I got clear on what was stressing me out. There were some pesky tasks that crept their way into my vacation and were just sitting there in the waiting room of my brain. I decided to jot them down and give them a number on the queue so they could soon disappear out of my life.
- I actually did some of those tasks. Once I took action, I was able to say goodbye to things that were holding my ability to kick overwhelm to the curb hostage. Usually, once you just do the thing, you realize it's not that complicated, time consuming, or serious-and that, my friend, is relieving AF.
- I went slower than usual. I didn't expect myself to work like my laptop battery was dying or try to beat any efficiency records. I did what I had to do at half speed and that was good enough for me.
- I nurtured myself along the way. I sat in a chair with my feet in my foot massager while I did one task. I spent time looking through magazines after I sorted through the mail. I ate chocolate covered almonds at 11:00am.
- I didn't cook or do anything unnecessary. We got take-out for dinner, and even though I felt like the house could use a little scrub down, I didn't do it. It was good enough.
- I stayed home most of the day. With the exception of my short trip to the grocery store and restaurant for dinner, I laid low the majority of the day and enjoyed my home, a place I hadn't seen in weeks. It made me happy, grateful, and comfortable to lounge on my couch, get into my bed, and have access to ALL my things, not just the ones I'd packed for my trip.
By Monday morning, I wasn't 100% back to my normal self, but I was definitely closer than I'd been 24 hours earlier. I'm glad my bout with post vacation blues was a short one. I mean, as a mom, I guess it had to be. And, I'm glad I had the ability to spend my first day at home easing back into working mom life instead of diving back in head first.
Have you experienced post vacation blues? Send me a DM and tell me about it. I'd love to know I'm not alone in experiencing it.
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