[EN] I’m on vacation, but I’m still aware of my email and work messages and I feel like I can’t disconnect. How can I stop thinking about work during my days off?

The difficulty of disconnecting from work during the holiday period is quite frequent, especially when we are used to being constantly available. If we continue to keep an eye on email, messages or possible tasks, even if we are physically on break, mentally we are still in work mode. This prevents the brain from really having that recovery space it needs.

Checking your phone can create a circle that is difficult to break: a message appears, we feel the need to read it, we respond and we get a momentary sense of control. However, each check-up reactivates work worries and makes it more difficult to enjoy free time again. It is not only about stopping working, but about mentally allowing ourselves to be somewhere else.

To facilitate this disconnect, you may find it helpful to set clear boundaries before or at the start of the vacation. For example, defining which situations really require your attention, delegating responsibilities to other colleagues and establishing who can cover you if something urgent arises. It also helps to deactivate notifications from the different work-related communication channels and establish specific times, if necessary, to review an issue. The goal is for work to stop taking up small spaces throughout the day.

It’s also important not to wait for the mind to stop thinking about work on its own. When a work concern appears, you can recognize it and mentally postpone it through an internal dialogue such as: «I will attend to this when I return, not now». Then, deliberately direct your attention to what you’re doing at the moment. Recovering pleasant activities, movement, rest and quality time with other people also makes it easier for attention to progressively move away from obligations.

My advice: set limits on work contact, accept that some tasks can wait and remember that disconnecting is also a way to take care of your health and return to work with more energy.