How to cope with work dread

So, August is here and people are travelling back to their expat lives, after (hopefully), a summer of seeing family and eating too much.

August to lots of us, is when we are forced to accept that summer is nearly over. We need to get back into the routine of life. We need to get back to healthy eating and exercise. And we need to get back to work. With this, sometimes comes the inevitable work-dread and having to go to bed the night before starting with that knot in your stomach and an alarm set.

Even if you enjoy your job and know you will be fine when you get back into it, the thought of going back to meetings, planning, office hours, less time to relax and dealing with colleagues or clients, can be daunting.

Spending time in the holidays with the people you love most (either in your home country or the country you moved to), is so important in disconnecting you from the everyday routine of life. The different conversations, seeing people you have not seen for a while, different weather, different environment and different experiences, all have a huge impact on our need to get away from where we live to improve our mental health.

This summer has been especially difficult with travel restrictions, quarantine and vaccination rules; even more so that it is now the second summer that many have not seen their families for.  There are grandparents who have not met grandchildren yet, people in families who have passed away in this time, children grown up or met big milestones – all being missed due to COVID.

But regardless of if you got home or not, summer is a time for a longer break and to relax with your friends and family. Going back to work signals the end of all that and the routine of normal life beckons.

Here are some tips to help you transition back to work after your summer break:

1. Meet up with some friends before you return to work to help you remember how nice your friendship group is here and, if they work with you, this will help to remind you that work is fine as you have friends there.
2. Try get up a little earlier over the weekend, so you are not surviving off a few hours’ sleep on the first day back after too many nights of going to bed at 1am during the summer.
3. If you have had your emails switched off for the time you were away, either choose to re-open them the day before going back (to ease you back in), or decide that it can all wait until you step foot in the office. Whatever you choose, you then know you have no pressure to do work before you actually start.
4. Get all the ‘How was your summer?’ conversations out the way as quickly as possible by seeing as many people as you can when you go back in. This is especially bad in education because everyone has been on holiday, unlike in an office where people take holidays at different times.
5. Do what you need to get into the work mind space. That could be grabbing a coffee at a certain time with colleagues. It could be setting up everything at your desk or office so it all functions again. It could be taking time away at lunch to get some peace, or perhaps having a meeting with your team to welcome everyone back.
6. Try to remember the positives about being back at work – the lovely team, the routine, some time to focus (if you have children, this could be very much welcomed), the love of the job you do, the appreciation of going home at night etc. – it is always good to stay positive and remember how grateful you are for that job.

So, yes, the summer is almost over and people are starting to go back to work, but there is no need for fear or work dread, because after a few hours back, it will all feel normal again. You will like seeing your colleagues and you will enjoy the structure to your day. You will probably even like the work you are doing and be happy to get back into things.

If the dread is real and you really, deep down, do not want to go back, and once you are back you are still unhappy, it could be time to think about a change in jobs, a new direction or a different focus in life to distract you. Perhaps the summer break work dread is an indication of your work satisfaction?