What is a holiday if you take the work stress along and spend substantive part of the day sending or receiving work mails, checking WhatsApp messages to stay in touch with colleagues and, generally, fretting if a junior might butter up the boss and get promoted to your post? What is a holiday if its not stress-free?
Just the thought of losing out a promotion or even getting fired can turn the holiday into a disaster. Add to that constant checking on the office gossip with colleagues on WhatsApp…
Vacations come but once a year. It is mandatory, whether you take the stipulated month-long holiday or prefer to take it in installments to visit foreign destinations…or simply to avoid issues in the office. It is the best therapy to recuperate from the long and tiring work hours. That is, if you leave work behind, in the office, before you take that flight to travel out. Experts, in fact, advice to take a complete break from work if you want to return with a fresher perspective on your responsibilities and become more productive for the company.
So there; simply incorporate a few well-planned steps to enjoy a stress-free holiday.
Leave An Out-Of-Office Message
Before going on your leave, ensure that all the loose ends are tied and there is no pending work on your desk. Prepare a holiday handover note for your immediate boss and for colleagues who will follow up on your work. Craft an out-of-office email message, specifying your return date and contact details of a colleague who could be contacted in case of a problem. Do also specify that you should be contacted only if there is an emergency. You are on your holiday and do not need to stress over, say, a pending payment or a cancelled meeting. Go back to your sight-seeing/camping.
Fix A Time For Mails/Calls
Granted, there are some emails that require you to reply or even send from your account and there are a few calls that have to be made to ensure that things move smoothly back in the office. But that shouldn’t have you checking your phone constantly to see if there is anything in your inbox. A complete detox would, of course, be ideal; nevertheless, you could circumvent the problem by fixing a few minutes in the morning to check your emails or make the calls, before switching it off or putting it on silent mode.
Do Not Feel Guilty
This is the most important lesson to inculcate if you want to enjoy your holiday. Do not feel guilty to use all your paid vacation time. You are not indispensable to the company and no, if you have done your job right, you will not get replaced while you are on your vacation. Even if the market has been seeing a down-slide that is no reason for you to fret over during the holidays and wallow in guilt for taking time out. Understand the importance of the holidays to rejuvenate and refresh and stop worrying that you might be losing out on some major projects at work.
Make The Most Of Your Holiday
If you are a workaholic, you might find it difficult to manage all the free time in your hand. Let the holiday teach you how to sit down and see the world with the eyes of a tourist – not an executive working a 9 to 6 job that can stretch past the evening. Learn to de-stress and reconnect with nature; enjoy the generosity of time as it tells you to retrospect and strengthen mentally for all things that the life has to offer. 
Utilise the time to commune with nature, take walks in the garden or simply walk along the city boulevards to experience life that is so very different from your everyday office routine. Holiday is a therapy in so many ways; it gives you time to reflect on your dreams and aspirations. Some of them might just turn into reality post holidays.
Prepare Yourself For Return Back To Work
While holidays have the power to make you completely switch off from your everyday life – if you permit it, that is – it can also make you worry about the avalanche of work that will fall on you on your return. This calls for some preparation on your part. Fretting over why you ever went on leave on the face of the work awaiting is not going to change things. Identify areas that are of priority and mentally prepare for the same. Getting a colleague to debrief you or provide a report of the situation in your absence will help you plan the return to take off smoothly.
Make this holiday special with a stress-free plan of action.