How to Beat the Getaway Gloomies and Ease Back to Work

What Are the Getaway Gloomies?

You’ve heard of the Sunday Scaries—the wave of anxiety that hits early Sunday evening, right as the last rays of weekend sun fade to the cold reality that Monday awaits. But the Sunday Scaries are nothing compared to their more intense cousin, the Getaway Gloomies. The Getaway Gloomies may be a term I made up, but that doesn’t make it less real. It’s the moment you realize vacation is coming to an end—the morning walks along the beach, the midday coffee and book break, the late afternoon nap—all on the verge of ending. Soon, you’ll be back at your desk, the protective shield of the Slack palm tree emoji and chipper “OOO” autoresponse cruelly stripped away, leaving you vulnerable once again to meeting requests and urgent emails. The Getaway Gloomies can strike anyone, even if you love what you do.

Prepare Before You Leave

Getting ready for PTO is never easy, and it’s always tempting to succumb to a case of “I’ll just deal with this when I get back”-itis. It’s important to resist this urge. Instead, tie up the loose ends in a way your future self will thank you for. Brief your colleagues that you’ll be away, and work with them to mitigate the odds of surprises cropping up while you’re gone. Wrap up any to-do’s that may niggle at you while you’re OOO. It will be worth it, I promise.

Before I take off for any time away, whether it’s a basketball tournament for one of my kids or my annual visit to my family’s olive farm in Turkey, I’ve also learned to do one thing: I write down every decision that might land on my desk while I’m gone, then hand each one to someone who can make the call without me. Having built delegation into my workflow makes it much less painful when I need to step away—and eliminates the risk of having to field questions from a beach chair.

Recharge and Ease Back In

Not all vacations are created equal. Problems arise when you return more exhausted than when you left. Tempting as it is to maximize PTO, build in space to get your bearings. Personally, I like at least one buffer day—time to unpack, get the house in order, and get a good night’s sleep. Similarly, genuinely protect your time off. If you spend it fielding work calls, you’ve just moved your desk to a more scenic location, not given your mind a chance to rest.

If re-entry feels less-than-seamless, you’re not alone. “Coming back from vacation is a gigantic shock to the system,” Tessa West, an NYU psychology professor, tells Harvard Business Review. Acknowledge this and give yourself grace. Rather than stacking your to-do list, pick two or three things to tackle. I’m a fan of the Eisenhower Matrix, which categorizes tasks by urgency and importance. Also, avoid meetings first thing; block off your availability until your second day back, knowing you’ll feel more organized and present than at 9 a.m. Monday morning.

Keep Vacation Habits Alive

When you’re back at your desk, take stock of what your time away gave you. Maybe you broke your habit of checking emails the second you awoke. Maybe you savored your coffee ritual. Obviously, there are parts of vacation you can’t recreate in your day-to-day life. But if there are little things you loved—quiet mornings, eating without multitasking—figure out how to keep doing them once you’re back.

Identify those positive habits and incorporate them into your daily work life to reduce the transition pain. This could mean protecting a morning block for focused work before checking messages, or consciously eating lunch away from your screen. These small anchors of vacation mindfulness can make the return to routine feel less jarring and help preserve the mental reset you worked hard to achieve. In all likelihood, the Getaway Gloomies will subside within a few days, but by carrying forward these small practices, you can make your transition back to real life a lot less painful, and make getting back into the swing of things as smooth as possible.