It's 2022. We made it!
Thank God - am I right?
As we transition from new year celebrations back into the day to day grind, I want to share with you a simple tip that's been my saving grace time and time again...
It's called the buffer zone.
Now if you haven't heard it from me you may have heard elsewhere just how important time off really is for your mental health. It's crazy important AND not at all why I'm writing to you. I'm writing to share with you what I don't hear folks talk about enough - the importance of transitioning into and out of time off.
Imagine this...
You've just taken off a week of work...
You fought all temptations to respond to those emails as they came in, maybe you even warded off email altogether...
You stopped taking appointments...
You even put a pause on your miscellaneous day-to-day tasks.
And, after a blissful week off, you come back into the office to...
*insert horror movie music here*
A HUGE PILE of tasks, emails and more to address.
Since you were off for a week you added a bunch of appointments to your calendar first thing on Monday to try to catch up. Now you have a full calendar and ZERO time to address anything else.
AHHHHH!
The overwhelm kicks in. Fight, flight, freeze or faint is triggered and you jump right in, trying to slash task after task.
Your first day back you end up working super late.
Suddenly, you find yourself thinking that you DEFINITELY need another vacation even though you just got back from vacation yesterday.
Believe it or not, this story is oh too common. I've heard it thousands of times AND luckily for you I have the perfect remedy.
It's called the buffer zone.
As hinted at earlier, the buffer zone is the conscious transition into or out of time off and it's time that you consciously schedule into your calendar before and after time off to support a more easeful transition. For context, I typically give myself a day of buffer time after about a week off to address email and those misc. tasks mentioned earlier. I'm back in the office, but not yet taking appointments. I give myself a buffer zone and let me tell you...it's been a game changer.
No more needing a vacation after just one day back to work.
Just easeful reintegration. Want more helpful tips and tricks to stress less? Apply for a complimentary discovery call here.
Buffering, please hold. 😉
-Carlee