By Milissa Aronson   |   Stress Management

Posted: August 18, 2025 

We love our vacations and often spend the days and weeks leading up to it daydreaming and counting down the days till it starts. Vacations are often long-awaited breaks that are supposed to recharge us. You spend days soaking up sunshine, eating great food, sleeping without alarms, and forgetting about emails. But then they end and we return to reality. The hit of reality can be overwhelming.  Inboxes are overflowing, schedules are jam-packed (yours and your families), and the calm you cultivated starts evaporating by Monday afternoon.

If you’ve ever felt like your vacation relaxation slips away the moment you land back home, you’re not alone. The “post-vacation crash” is real. The good news? With some intentional strategies, you can preserve that sense of ease and carry it into your everyday life.

Here are 10 practical ways to keep that vacation glow alive long after your suitcase is unpacked.

1. Reframe Your Return as a Transition Period

One of the biggest mistakes people make upon returning from a vacation is trying to jump right back into “full productivity mode” the moment vacation ends. That’s a surefire way to quickly undo your sense of Zen relaxation. Our brains and bodies don’t work that way. It’s like flooring the gas pedal right after coasting for a week—you’ll burn out fast. Being more intentional about the way you return to “real life” can help you maximize the benefits you gained from your vacation.

Try This:

• Build in a buffer day, if possible. Come back a day before you return to work so you can unpack, grocery shop, and ease into normal life.
• Treat the first couple of days back as a transition, not a test. You’re not behind—you’re recalibrating.
• When you shift your mindset from “I’m already drowning” to “I’m gradually adjusting,” you’re less likely to feel crushed by the demands of reality.

2. Protect Your Sleep Like It’s Part of the Vacation

Vacation often resets our sleep cycles. We get more rest, wake up naturally, and spend less time glued to screens before bed. Unfortunately, we often immediately revert to our old sleep patterns once we return home, and, with that, that familiar feeling over being exhausted quickly returns. This doesn’t have to be the case.

Try This:

• Stick with your vacation bedtime, at least for the first week.
• Keep phones out of the bedroom and re-create a wind-down routine (reading, stretching, journaling).
• If you stayed rested on vacation by napping, allow yourself a short afternoon reset during the week of approximately 10–20 minutes.

Sleep is one of the most powerful ways to preserve the “calm factor” you built on vacation.

3. Bring a Piece of Vacation Home with You

The relaxation you feel on vacation is often tied to sensory cues—smells, sights, tastes. Maybe it’s the sound of ocean waves, the smell of sunscreen, or the taste of fresh fruit.

Try This:

• Bring home a scent (candles, essential oils, even the same sunscreen).
• Recreate meals you enjoyed on vacation.
• Print a few photos and put them in places you see daily—your desk, fridge, or bathroom mirror.

Your nervous system doesn’t know the difference between the Caribbean breeze and a playlist of ocean sounds on Spotify. Give it reminders.

4. Manage the Re-Entry Workload Strategically

Most post-vacation stress comes from feeling immediately buried. The inbox is packed, projects moved forward without you, and people may be waiting on you for answers. While all this may be true, it is likely also true that everything does not require your immediate attention.

Try This:

• Triage your inbox. Scan for urgency before diving in. Use folders, flags, and reminders to prioritize.
• Set expectations. Use an out-of-office reply that extends through your first day back so people know you’re catching up.
• Batch tasks. Instead of juggling meetings, emails, and projects, dedicate blocks of time to each.

Think of this as “project management for your peace of mind.”

5. Keep Movement in the Mix

We may not always work out on vacation, but vacations often provide us with more consistent movement throughout the day. Vacations often involve walking, hiking, swimming or other activities where we move our bodies in a way that feels less force. Often, movement becomes another chore squeezed into an already full schedule once we return home. But if you did a good deal of movement on vacation, your body associated movement with energy and relaxation.

Try This:

• Choose a vacation-inspired movement—like an evening walk, yoga, or biking—and schedule it like a meeting.
• If your vacation was active, carry over the activity in smaller doses. Even a 10-minute stretch can signal to your body: “We’re still in relaxation mode.”
• Build in midday movement where you can. Do you have a standing, low-demand meeting that doesn’t require you to be on camera? Do this as a phone call while you take an outdoor walk.

6. Practice Mini-Mindfulness Moments

While most of us love spending hours lounging on a hammock, this isn’t the only way to reset. Small, mindful pauses throughout the day can recreate the grounded feeling you had on vacation.

Try This:

• Take 60-second “breathing breaks.”
• Step outside for a few minutes of sunlight.
• Eat one meal a day without multitasking—no phone, no laptop, just food.

These small rituals anchor you, and they’re sustainable when life gets busy.

7. Avoid “Comparison Burnout”

Vacations can spark that dreaded feeling that our real life isn’t as good as our time away. If you are quickly scrolling through vacation photos with nostalgia and dreading returning to “real life”, you start to feel resentful and run an even greater risk of undoing your relaxation. While it’s important to remember the fun we had on vacation, it’s just as important to appreciate our regular life.

Try This:

• Shift from “life vs. vacation” to “life plus vacation elements.” Ask: What small parts of vacation can I integrate here? (Slower mornings, trying new restaurants, being outside more.)
• Practice gratitude. Jot down one daily thing you appreciate about being home.

Vacations are not an escape from life—they’re a reminder of what nourishes you.

8. Set Boundaries That You had on Vacation

Were you checking your emails obsessively and scrolling Slack at midnight while you were on vacation? Probably not, if you returned relaxed. You gave yourself permission to disconnect. That boundary helped you achieve a sense of relaxation.

Try This:

• Define “work hours” at home and stick to them.
• Turn off notifications when you’re off the clock.
• Communicate boundaries to colleagues, just like you did with your out-of-office message.

Boundaries are necessity for keeping stress manageable, not a luxury.

9. Plan Your Next Mini-Getaway

Part of post-vacation blues comes from thinking you won’t get that freedom again until the next big trip, which could be a way off. However, big vacations don’t have to be the only time you get to relax. This feeling can be replicated in smaller doses by creating something to look forward to.

Try This:

• Schedule a weekend trip, day hike, or even a “staycation” day off.
• Mark it on your calendar so your brain registers: relief is on the horizon.

Anticipation itself is a mood booster. Creating more anticipatory opportunities helps to spread vacation energy throughout the year.

10. Redefine Success After Vacation

If you are someone who equates “success” only with being constantly productive, you’ll sabotage your relaxation every time. Vacations can serve to remind us that success also looks like being present, joyful, and at ease.

Try This:

• Ask yourself each morning: What would make today feel balanced?
• Define one “non-negotiable” for well-being—sleep, exercise, or downtime—and protect it as fiercely as you protect deadlines.
• Remember: you don’t need to earn rest. You need rest to perform.

Vacations don’t have to be fleeting bubbles of joy that pop the moment you’re back in the office. They can be blueprints that show you what your mind and body need to feel good, such as slower mornings, fewer distractions, and meaningful experiences.

By building small but intentional practices into your routine, you can hold onto that relaxation long after your tan fades. The trick isn’t to recreate the vacation exactly, but to weave the essence of it into your everyday life.

Because in the end, life shouldn’t be something you only escape from a few times a year. It should be a rhythm that supports your well-being—even on the most ordinary Tuesdays.

Need more help reducing stress? Reach out today!