Do Vacations Stress You Out?

In honor of National Stress Awareness Month (April) I hope you enjoy the following blog post that was guest written by my intern Taylor Barber. Taylor is about to finish her sophomore year at Endicott College. She is majoring in exercise science, and minoring in nutrition and wellness. It has been an absolute delight to introduce her to the field of (and business of) dietetics, and her help over the past few months has been truly invaluable! I’m sure everyone can relate to the experience she writes about here, and I hope you also find her keene self awareness and creativity in how she found ways to identify and meet her own needs inspiring. I did!

Vacation Stress?

            I wanted to start off this blog post by telling you all a little bit about myself. My name is Taylor Barber, and I am a student at Endicott College. I have been interning with Jen for the past few months and to say I am enjoying my time working with her is an understatement. Not only have I learned so much about becoming a Registered Dietitian, but also how important building connections with others is for my future. This past week I was on spring break, and I wanted to share my experience with having to cook dinners with my friends who tend to not share the same interests in foods as myself. This was something that may not seem like significant issue for all, but it was something that I wasn’t used to. It took some time to adjust to this for the week. I am so used to eating meals with my friends in a dining hall setting, where each person can pick exactly the food that they want to eat. Having to pick one meal that satisfies 6 people was a little bit more of a challenge.

            The first trip to the grocery store was overwhelming to say the least. Many of my friends had decided on meals consisting of chicken tenders and fries, frozen pizzas, burgers and hotdogs, and pasta. Not to say that I don’t enjoy these meals, or that I “can’t” eat them, I am personally not used to eating meals like this every day. I found I was able to make suggestions to my friends, like adding a vegetable, salad, or even some fruit on the side to help add variety to the meals, and that worked well! For example, the night we had burgers and hotdogs, I bought Brussel sprouts at the store and roasted them in the oven to have on the side. While some of my friends didn’t end up eating them (which didn’t bother me at all) it was nice to have a medley of different types of food in the meal.

            Spending a week with 6 people was overwhelming at times as well. While most of the trip was very relaxing and fun, there were times where I just felt like I needed some me-time. I don’t think it is a bad thing to want time to yourself. For me at least, I like to have an hour everyday where I do something dedicated to myself, ideally by myself. This can look like watching a show on Netflix or even working out. While this was more challenging to do on a vacation with 5 other people, I found that when I could take even 15 minutes to myself, I felt recharged. While I do think that vacations are fun, by the end I always feel like I am ready to go back home and get back to my regular routine and schedule.

            Getting back into work after a week off also had its challenges though. I find that after going on vacation, my brain seems to still be in sort of a fog. Getting out of that can feel difficult at times, but within a few days, I tend to get back in the swing of things. I want to thank Jen for not only giving me the opportunity to write this blog post for all of you, but also for the chance to work with her over the course of the semester. I really do feel like doing this internship with her was so fun seeing how she communicates with her clients and forms those connections into trusting relationships. I also want to thank all of you for taking time out of your day to read this post about the stress that can come with going on vacation. I’m sure some of you can relate to the feeling of needing a vacation from your vacation.

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