Tomorrow is my first day back at work after 16 whole days off (18 out of the office if you include the two days I was working in the store) for Christmas and New Year. This is the first time I have had such a long period off in one run since 2006 when Sam and I went driving round the Netherlands and Belgium. Since then we have typically taken single weeks of annual leave, 10 days tops – even when we got married.

What I have learnt from this break is that you really can switch off with two weeks to clear your head and re-group. People have continually said it to me and I always nod in agreement, but this is the first time I have managed to do it. Of course, Christmas does immediately provide a distraction that makes it easy to switch-off; But on the flip-side, Christmas comes with it’s own stresses so in the round it’s no different to any other time of year.

Whilst I am not looking forward to getting-up early tomorrow, battling the un-ending wind and rain to commute to London, I feel (for the first time in a long time) well rested, well organised and like I don’t have lots of outstanding things to do. That’s a nice feeling and I only hope I can make two week holidays a little more of a common occurance than once every 8 years!