Last week I was blessed to be apart of my best friends wedding in New York City. For one the wedding was awesome, but it also gave me the opportunity to take a little mini vacation. This year has been intensely busy for me and I was more then ready to get of town for a bit.

The trip was perfect. I had the best time seeing shows, hanging out in central park, eating everything in site, and of course shopping. I barely checked my email, and only responded to phone calls that were really important. I truly got to detach for a few days and have some fun.

But when it was time to go home, I fell into a depressed funk. I wasn’t ready to go back to reality yet. I was developing the post vacation blues.

While I know this is common, I really have no reason to be depressed about my life back home. I have a successful practice doing what I love. A great relationship, and amazing friends and family. Plus I live in paradise! But still I found myself looking at the calaneder to figure out when was the next time I could get away.

Of course everyone loves time off, and it can be hard to go back to the daily grind sometimes. However, that wasn’t the real reason why I was feeling sad. Yes I know I need to relax more on the weekends, go to the beach more, set aside time for myself, etc… But there was something deeper going on for me, and it took a lot of meditating and journaling for me to get to the bottom of it.

The reason was simple. When I’m on vacation I take the pressure off myself. I have permission to act like a human, and I stop trying to be super woman. I don’t beat myself up for not answering every email or phone call. It’s ok if I sleep in a little, or skip a workout. I’m not anxiously racing through the day trying to complete a to-do list. The truth is I love my work. Every part of it, even the paperwork. But what I don’t love is the pressure I put on myself. Now a little pressure is good, but the pressure to be perfect at everything is just too much. To be constantly “on” with every task and every client. I’ve created my own pressure cooker, and it’s just not sustainable.

So I am making some changes. For one I absolutely need to schedule in more downtime for myself. That’s a no brainer. But I also need to take the pressure off. What if I could go about my work without the pressure to perfect? Maybe I won’t finish up this project by the end of the day, but I’ll do my best. That is an entirely different energy then telling myself that I have to get this project done by the end of the day or else. Or else what? Let’s get real here, I run my own business, there is no boss telling me what to do or to yell it me. So when did I become such a tyrant to myself?

My theory is that by taking some of the pressure off I’ll actually be more focused and productive. I’ll accomplish more, be more efficient, and at the same time I can keep my vacation state of mind.

Where in your life are you putting too much pressure on yourself? Is it at your job? With your family? Or maybe even with your health and your body? Try taking some of the pressure off. Don’t wait for your next vacation to ease that tension, choose to live that way today.