Post-Vacation Drain

So it only took about one day of routine to destroy my energy level.

This is not unexpected.  I gave up the concept many years ago that returning from vacation means anything at all changes while you are on vacation.  Workplaces seldom become better by your absence. Always a little disappointing I suppose, because one would like to believe that this time it will be different - but not unexpected.

I noticed the waning over the course of the day.  When I got in I was energized, focused, moving forward on projects. By the end of the day I was drifting, slowing down, seemingly lost in my ability to focus on what I had to do.  Coming back and realizing that without your presence initiatives continue to be not acted on will do that for you.

The saddest part of this whole experience is the fact that all the dreams and plans you built a head of steam for while on vacation disappear.  The good ideas you had, the "I am going to change things now and this is how I am going to do it"  seem to float away like a tattered flag in the wind, leaving you only with the shreds of what you had dreamed to accomplish.

I do not suppose this is the goal of any vacation, in reality.  A vacation does not solve your career or work problems, it merely gives you a break from them.  But perhaps it can provide one more piece of functionality:  to give one the wisdom and incentive to simply ask the question "If nothing changes, how long until I am willing to admit this fact and take real action to move on?"