We all know that feeling. It starts maybe on the Saturday afternoon or the Sunday morning at the end of a holiday. At an unfeasibly early hour on Monday, the alarm is going to go off, summoning us back to our routine, which probably involves hours at a desk. And no matter what your job, there’s not much that can improve on waking up when you want to, reading the paper in the sun and then weighing up whether to go for a swim or a walk on the beach before morning tea.
There are probably a few people out there suffering an extreme form of Mondayitis today. I feel for you. In case it helps, I made a list of reasons why I was happy about going back to work:
- Feeling like a tourist in my own city. Being away for nearly two weeks always makes me look at Wellington a bit differently, and appreciate the green hills, the sparkling harbour. I even found myself looking at Reading Cinemas with renewed interest – even before I found out it’s been closed again due to earthquake risk.
- Seeing old friends. Hello Unity Books, Hello Arty Bees, Hello Moss Caff.
- Proximity to Japanese food. Coming back to Wellington means being close to The Ramen Shop, the Kazu restaurants with their yakitori and beer towers, the chicken karaage at Yoshi Sushi (Press Hall), and Tatsushi, the queen of the Wellington Japanese restaurant scene. We went to Japan in October and ever since then I’ve been hooked. So I celebrated this proximity by going to the Asian food store Haere Mai on Victoria St, also one of my happy places, and buying seaweed and shrimp chips at lunchtime. Then I walked by Tatsushi, just so I could stick my nose in the door and inhale deeply.
- Only two months until Film Society!
- The plum loaf I was carrying in my bag – baking and sharing it makes me inordinately happy.
- Sharing stories with workmates about the best and the worst things that happened on their holidays – a lot of the best things involved nature, friends or food.
- Coming back to a small inbox, an empty calendar, and a carefully planned to-do list so I can ease back into operating at full brain power. A bit of a luxury, I know.
- Having a job is good, generally. It allows me to pay for important things like the house, cat food, knitting wool – and the next holiday.
- Being back in my own bed. Someone told me recently that the trick to travelling is to take your own pillow and sheets. I’ll try that next time!
- And when all else fails, having a good whinge about going back to work can be pretty therapeutic. Moan, grumble, complain, wallow in it for at least the first day – get it out of your system and then get on with it.
How’s your first week back going?