I was on vacation last week, and am getting back into the swing of things today. This means the joys of going through a pile of unread emails, catching up on missed paperwork, etc. And we can be overwhelmed by this, and some might want to handle the stress of jumping back into it by overdoing it. For me, and for many people I know who live with anxiety and depression, this can be a mistake.
Yes, unchecked things on our to-do lists can be a source of anxiety. Yet it can be even more troubling if we try to overdo it right off the bat. Similar to trying to go back to exercise too soon after an injury, pushing ourselves to tackle an entire to-do list in one day can leave us feeling unbalanced and ungrounded. At least that is the case for me.
Vacations are an important part of self-care. Yet we shouldn’t undo that self-care by cramming an entire vacation’s worth of stress into one day. For me, that will only leave me burnt out after one day, which in turn will leave an opening for the demons of depression to work their way out of the shadowy corners of my mind and into center stage. After years of learning to manage my mental illnesses, I now know better. And hopefully, if jumping back into it in a balanced way is something you struggle with, this post will serve as a reminder that it is okay to ease back into it.
Trust me, the emails will still be there if you allow yourself time to take it slow.
The Dark Tales Project 
Thanks for posting this. I know that for some of us with anxiety and depression, the fear of being overwhelmed after a vacation can prevent us FROM taking one. Thanks for showing it’s possible and not hopeless and for indeed the need for self care. 😊
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