Returning to work after a break can be daunting, but thinking carefully about how you do it can ease the transition and support your mental health:
Accept a Gradual Reboot: Allow yourself time to adjust, recognising that full productivity may take a few days. We all take time to wind back up. Planning for this helps take the pressure off.
Have Good Boundaries: While reconnecting with people you work with is important, establish boundaries that help you limit interruptions and protect your focus.
Ease Back with Simple Wins: Prioritise quick, straightforward tasks to build confidence and momentum. This can be as simple as sorting emails - removing any that are no longer applicable.
Break Tasks into Chunks: Manage your workload breaking it into smaller, easily achievable tasks to help prevent feeling overwhelmed and help you maintain your energy and focus.
Focus on Immediate Deadlines: Look at your task list and determine what has to happen quickly, and what can wait. Prioritise the tasks with pressing timelines to help maintain clarity and avoid last-minute stress.
Leverage Quiet Hours: If it suits you and your role to do it, start early and finish early or start later and finish later when others aren't around. This way you can create undisturbed time to reorient yourself and catch up.
Wellbeing Considerations
Be Kind to Yourself: Post-break sluggishness is totally normal. Don't be too hard on yourself for slower progress and make sure you celebrate the small achievements you make.
Stay Attuned to Your Limits: In the effort to 'catch up' try not to overcommit, as it could lead to burnout. Once you have those personal boundaries in place, try to stick to them to help maintain energy levels and not feel too pressured.
Create a Supportive Environment: It's great to catch up with co-workers, but if it's becoming too much, balance this with time to focus and decompress. You may be able to say 'I'd love to hear more at lunch' to politely draw your attention back to work.
Prioritise Self-Care: Incorporate short breaks, get up off your chair and walk around if you work at a desk. A small break can sometimes give you improved focus and energy. Try to keep hydrated and find small moments of mindfulness to help maintain your mental and emotional balance.
Approaching your return to work with self-compassion and practical strategies can reduce stress, promote resilience, and set a steady foundation for long-term productivity and a sense of accomplishment.
We wish you all the best if you are returning to work this week or soon. And if you have already been back at work for a while, we hope you can still apply these tips to protect your wellbeing.
Best wishes,
Your friends at Lived Experience Australia
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