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🎉 Feel good Friday: from work to holidays and back 🌟

Walter Buggenhout

Today is the last working day in August. For people with kids in my home country - 🇧🇪 Belgium - that aligns with the last day of the summer holidays.

It has always been a day that calls for mixed emotions:

🥲 a touch of sadness since the holidays are really coming to an end now;
🤪 a comparable amount of crazy excitement to be reunited with friends ...

For me personally, not that much has changed between the - now long gone - experience at school or my current life at work. I have probably been blessed to always find a job and belong to a team that had a similar vibe, good connections and fun stuff to do as when I was a school kid. Maybe I still unconsciously think and behave as if I was still 18 or 20 years old - who knows ... 😊

Wondering though how easy or hard it is for your guys to switch from work to holidays and back in the best possible vibe ...

Being into photography myself, I force myself to take a lot of holiday pictures (in RAW format) and post process those in the week(s) after I return, so I still take a bit of holiday along when work routine kicks in again.

Screenshot 2025-08-29 at 10.42.56.png

Can you relate or share a totally different approach to keep the good holiday vibes going?

Comments

Barbara Szczesniak

Lovely pictures, @Walter Buggenhout!

One of my ways to ease the transition from holidays to work is to return home on Friday or Saturday to give myself time to get used to being back before jumping into work. There's nothing worse than getting home from a holiday at 10PM Sunday and having to get up for work the next day.

Walter Buggenhout

Absolutely true. I also sometimes set my OoO message a day earlier and longer than my actual absence to manage expectations. That tends to help reduce the number of last minute urgent stuff before you leave so you can properly wrap up. And on the other hand/end it frees up some time to catch up after the return.

James O_Connor_o89ye8

Awesome photos @Walter Buggenhout - that definitely looks like a great holiday!

I have never been able to master the trick of 'easing in' to holidays, it always ends up being a final few days of panic and screaming followed by a hard stop where I switch my laptop off and turn notifications off on my phone. On the return, I usually try to keep the holiday vibe going with music - I'm always on the lookout for new music when I'm travelling and when I find something I love, listening to that track or album takes me back to wherever I heard it first. For example, hearing Chiara Civello takes me back to a tiny restaurant in Sardinia from about fifteen years ago - I can almost taste the gorgonzola gnocci that I was eating at the time...

If I don't end up finding anything new, I'll create a holiday playlist that does the same job.

Amanda Barber

Thank you so much for posting this week, @Walter Buggenhout - beautiful pictures!

We squeezed in a few more bits of fun this weekend before school starts on Tuesday. Friday, we went to a favorite summer activity called Bookworm Gardens. It's a botanical garden with children's book themed gardens located throughout. It's always been a favorite of mine and my own kids - this year, we introduced our newest cousin to it!

Yesterday, we spent the day exploring a Deer Park where we got to feed and pet deer. Then, we stopped in our state's capitol for an event called Taste of Madison. It was busier than we expected, but we still ate some great food and enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Today, I took my oldest kiddo and their friend to an amusement park that we have season passes to.

I'm grateful for one more day off to catch up on all the weekend chores and cleaning. Haha!

Shawn Doyle - ReleaseTEAM

There is nothing worse than coming home late Sunday to work on Monday, I agree. Yet I do this to myself over and over again.

Daria Kulikova_GitProtect.io

I also agree that there is nothing worse than getting back from holiday in the evening and then starting to work the next morning, but for me it has always been the best way to quickly jump into the working process

Daria Kulikova_GitProtect.io

Wonderful pictures @Walter Buggenhout

I find it quite easy to switch between holiday mode and work, but for my daughter, the start of the new school year is always a challenge. This time, though, her teacher had a great idea — she asked the kids to film little videos about walking around the city, their favorite places, or how they traveled during the break. That way, the back-to-school transition started earlier, with my daughter already thinking about what to film and later looking forward to sharing it with her classmates. Thanks to this, she slipped back into the school routine almost effortlessly. 🙂

Here is a photo from her summer project:

Cuti Vai

I can totally relate! For me, the transition feels easier when I have something refreshing lined up after holidays. Even a simple self-care ritual helps keep the good vibes going. Sometimes I’ll book a salon appointment after coming back — like a haircut or facial — and it almost feels like extending the holiday energy into my regular routine. It’s a nice way to reset before diving back into work mode.

Brita Moorus

Nice idea with the photos! 📸

For me it is not always easy to go from holiday back to work (especially after a longer one!). I try to plan something small and fun after holidays - like meeting friends or playing sports - so the good feeling does not end too quickly.

Sometimes I also change little things in my routine, like walking outside during lunch, to keep the holiday mood a bit longer.