Holidays vs Work and the big BUTS

Getting back into work after holidays, especially such a long break can be hard! Especially when we are only two weeks in… you start to feel all the pressure, stress and negativity return. “Was my holiday long enough?” you ask yourself… Am I really needing to work? Why can’t I just sell up and minimise my life to live stress free? Let’s answer these one by one…

Was the holiday long enough?

Maybe not, but were you starting to think about work? Were you starting to plan how the year was going to be? What ideas did you come up with and were they work related? If yes, then yes your holiday was coming to an end and you were getting yourself mentally prepared to return to work with all the ideas/hopes and motivations of what it could be! We also had the added long weekends to ease us into 2018, so unless your first day back at the office was absolutely awful and you went home and crawled under your sheets crying, then I would say you are ok. Your time off was good and you have more holidays coming up to look forward to as well as a successful year!

Am I really needing to work?

Although this question and the next are similar I’m going to answer them separately. And again, did you start planning and thinking about work while on holiday? If you did, I think this means that you missed the work environment, the challenge, the organising and the brain workout. You may not need to work but you have a desire to learn, be part of a team and be part of something that is wanting to be the best it can be! Do you really want to give all of that up?
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I think that work actually helps us be better people.

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We take the learning experiences from work to challenge our children, partners, parents and siblings along with our friends. It also gives us something to grow from and debate about. Otherwise we might just be talking politics and weather all day! Wonder what our social circle would look like if that were the case.

Should I sell up and minimise my life?

This is a question I ask myself. Auckland is a very busy and pressured place to live but I think there are things that a city provides that I might miss if I gave them up too early. I would definitely not miss the commute to work or even the commute to the shops, BUT, I would miss the diversity of the people, the things that the city provides because of the volume of people. I might not miss the noise, BUT, I would miss the overseas artists, outdoor movies, speedways, and the walking/jogging clubs – all of the entertainment our city has to offer. So yes I could sell up and move out of the city, BUT, you just don’t get to socialise the same (mostly because your friends are still working), you don’t get caught up in the vibrancy and pace to keep the excitement and challenge alive.
So my conclusion on all of the above for me is… holidays are fantastic and I love them (would love them to be longer or more frequent), BUT, I still want it all and to do that I need to work! I need to live in the city! And I need to enjoy everything life has to offer! Unfortunately this may include some stress, some frustration and some down time but I can rise above it, I have choices and options, just like you do. I have made mine for now.