#156| Why Vacation Prep Feels Like an Overwhelm Pressure Cooker & How to Ease It Before You Go: Overwhelm, Productivity, Time Management & People Pleasing

Do you feel completely frazzled every time you’re prepping for vacation—and then end up too exhausted to enjoy it?

Michelle is here to break down why vacation prep feels overwhelming (hint: it’s not because you’re disorganized) and shows how working women can simplify their to-do lists, set real boundaries, and finally rest—without guilt.

In this episode, you will:

• Learn how to identify what truly must get done before you leave (and what can wait)
• Discover why your out-of-office reply can be a powerful boundary to protect your peace
• Get practical tips to make packing easier and reduce stress the week before your trip

Press play now to learn how to prep for vacation in a way that actually helps you rest, recharge, and return refreshed.

Featured on the podcast:
What's Causing Your Overwhelm? quiz
Ep #67: Enjoy a Blissful Vacation by Planning Ahead
PackPoint

Wondering why you're overwhelmed? Take my "why am I overwhelmed" quiz to find out the source of your overwhelm, and what to do about it.

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Life can be overwhelming, but on this podcast, you'll discover practical strategies to overcome overwhelm, imposter syndrome, and negative self-talk, manage time effectively, set boundaries, and stay productive in high-stress jobs—all while learning how to say no and prioritize self-care on the Overwhelmed Worki...

Chapters

• 2:48 The Struggle is Real
• 5:09 Simplifying Your Pre-Trip To-Do List
• 8:29 Making Your Out-of-Office a Boundary

Transcript

Michelle Gauthier: 0:00

What if the most stressful part of vacation is all the stuff you have to do in order to get there? You're listening to Overwhelmed Working Woman, the podcast that helps you be more calm and more productive by doing less. I'm your host, Michelle Gauthier, a former Overwhelmed Working Woman and current life coach. On this show, we unpack the stress and pressure that today's working woman experiences, and in each episode you'll get a strategy to bring more calm, ease and relaxation to your life.

Michelle Gauthier: 0:37

Hi, friend, this podcast is very timely because I am going to be on vacation when this comes out, and so are many people. I have been canceling with my clients for next week and it seems like almost everybody else is on vacation too. I thought this would be the perfect time to talk about how to prep for your vacation so that you can enjoy the vacation and feel less stressed the week before. When you listen today, you're going to learn why vacation prep feels like a pressure cooker and how to ease it. How to simplify your pre-trip to-do list without sacrificing the things that really matter, and a little extra bonus why your out-of-office message is actually a powerful boundary, or has the potential to be one, depending on how you word it. Actually a powerful boundary, or has the potential to be one, depending on how you word it? These ideas will change how you approach rest, prep and managing your time. Maybe you've got a trip on the calendar and this is perfect timing for you. Maybe you don't right now, but either way, these ideas will teach you how to approach rest and prep time for time off moving forward.

Michelle Gauthier: 1:45

Before I jump into all that, if you are loving the podcast, the best way to say thanks is to take 30 seconds and leave a review. It helps other overwhelmed working women find these conversations too. I wanted to remind you too. There's a quiz on the homepage of my website. The link directly to the quiz is in the show notes and the name of the quiz is why am I overwhelmed? As you know from listening to this podcast, there are several reasons that people are overwhelmed. It's usually one of four things that's causing most of their pain. Take this quiz and find out what is the source of your overwhelm and what to do about it. No matter what your result is, I offer you a tip specific to that result even printable worksheets and videos for you to be able to make progress on your own. If you know you're overwhelmed and you've tried to solve it and it's just not working out, maybe you are ready to work with me. The link to set up a consultation for a one-on-one conversation about that is also in the show notes.

Michelle Gauthier: 2:48

Okay, let's get started. So if you feel frazzled prepping for vacation, it's not a sign you're disorganized or ungrateful or that you shouldn't be going. It's just a lot to coordinate. Okay, the first thing I want to say about vacation prep is you're not doing it wrong, it's just a lot. So you know a lot on this podcast I'm talking about that. We can think about things in different ways. So, yes, you could work on thinking this isn't a big deal.

Michelle Gauthier: 3:18

Going on vacation is easy, but in my experience it really isn't. There, legitimately, are a ton of things that have to be done, and especially at my corporate job less so now because of the type of job that I have, but at my corporate job you can guarantee that something would blow up and there would be a big work emergency between if I was leaving for vacation and Friday was my last day. For sure something would happen on Friday and on Thursday as well. For sure something would happen on Friday and on Thursday as well. I can specifically remember working until midnight or later on several Fridays before we were heading out on vacation.

Michelle Gauthier: 3:52

When you have a lot going on at work as well, it just feels like so much to try to pack everything, get on the plane on time, etc. So I think the key to this is knowing and acknowledging that when you are especially if you have kids when you are the mom, the person in charge of the family and usually in charge of the kids if you've got a 50-50 relationship and you guys are each two and a half amazing, that is fantastic for you. That is not what I normally find and, as a single mom, that is not what I ever find at my house. So if you're the one who's really doing everything prepping for the vacation and making sure the kids are packing their things and calling to make sure that the dog has a place to stay and all of that the first thing to do is acknowledge that it is a lot and you will need time to work on that. So just plan maybe a couple blocks during the week in the evening times to prep for that vacation. So you're not doing it at midnight on Friday after you finish up your last work call. Which leads me into my second point, which is to think about the prep that you really need to do, and if you're like me, you probably tell yourself that you have to get everything on earth done before you can go on vacation.

Michelle Gauthier: 5:09

So there are a couple essentials to prepping for vacation. Number one is, of course, the packing. I have an episode, which is number 67, that talks all about prepping for vacation and all of the things that you should consider, like setting your expectations and what to use for packing. I don't suggest starting with a blank piece of paper. Either use ChatGPT and say I'm going to Minnesota for five days, I'm bringing my kids, we're staying on a lake, etc. Etc. What do I need to bring? And have it give you suggestions. Or I use an app called PackPoint and it has just a list of things to bring and you add or remove the things that you want. So it pretty much suggests like 150 things and you need 30, and then you can save it. So every summer when I go to Minnesota, I already have my packing list all ready to go there. So go, listen to that episode if you need more details on exactly how to do that.

Michelle Gauthier: 6:05

The other part of it there's the packing list in the packing and then there is everything else that has to be done before you leave. For example, maybe you tell yourself I have to respond to every email and get my inbox to zero. I need to fold all the loads of laundry. I need to schedule 15 posts to post while I'm gone. One of my other ones is I always decide you know, that bag of returns that's been sitting in my bedroom for two months must go back before we go on vacation. My car right now I need to take it in. The check engine light is on Must get that done before we go on vacation.

Michelle Gauthier: 6:40

So ask yourself what can actually wait until I get back. So if you'd prefer to get all that stuff done and you have the time, go for it. But if you don't have the time or it's going to make you feel super stressed this week, ask yourself what can wait till I get back? What am I doing out of guilt? So maybe you feel bad. You're going to be gone from work, so you feel like you have to do all this extra If you're doing something from guilt, always question that you have a right to take vacation just like everybody else does.

Michelle Gauthier: 7:07

And what are my actual must do's? So what must get done? For example, before we go out of town, for sure I have to take the dog to the place where she stays. I need to stop the mail. Okay, if I don't stop the mail, there will just be a big pile. I really want to water my plants because I love my plants. Other than that, like my house could be a mess, my returns could still be in my bedroom. There could be emails that are left.

Michelle Gauthier: 7:38

So think about what must get done, what you can pause and get back to when you get home, and what actually just really doesn't matter. So one of the things that I really like to do is wash my sheets and make my bed with clean sheets. So when I get home, that I really like to do is wash my sheets and make my bed with clean sheets. So when I get home, that I come home to clean sheets, it is the best. That is not a must do. I can absolutely do it after I get home and it doesn't really matter. I just really like it. So it's kind of on the nice to have list. So once you do that, if you take the advice of creating a packing list with chat, gpt or using Packpoint and then making your list of everything you have to do and really highlighting the absolute essentials and seeing if you've got time for the rest, hopefully you're feeling pretty chill.

Michelle Gauthier: 8:20

And then my third point is to make sure that your out of office setup is a boundary, not a trap for yourself. So let's talk about that message. We slap on our email at the last minute, that out of office reply. I feel like when I worked for a corporation that setting the out of office reply was the official okay, I'm gone. And if yours sounds like I'm out of the office, but feel free to reach me if it's urgent or I'll be checking email periodically. That's not an out of office message. It's like I'm halfway on vacation. Please reach out to me if you need me. Please feel free.

Michelle Gauthier: 9:00

One of my clients was just telling me a story about how they had this set up and someone called when they were at the pool with their kids and of course they thought this is just going to take 15 minutes. It took way longer than 15 minutes, of course, and then she couldn't get it out of her head for the rest of the afternoon. So she took one call and then it ruined the time that she was with her family. She wasn't able to be present with them because she was worried about this problem. So, instead of that, set expectations in your out of office and just what. You tell people from the office and say I'm currently out of the office, I'll respond after X date. If it's urgent, please contact this other person. That kind of message sets the tone to say I'm not available.

Michelle Gauthier: 9:43

I value rest, I value boundaries. I trust that things can wait or that other people can handle it and, honestly, the most urgent things usually aren't. And right now, if you're someone who's like, yeah, but you don't understand my job, I have to be on call all the time. For example, I work with a lot of realtors and they do get calls all the time and of course, they get deals during the time that they're on vacation as well. If you can't just say I'm currently out of the office and fully unplugged to rest and reset, I'll respond after X date, and that won't work for your line of work. What will? Can you have your messages default? Go to somebody else on your team and they'll reach out to you if there's a problem. Can you tell someone from your office that something urgent comes up? Call my phone, otherwise I'm just put it, turning on out of office. What could you set up? If not a full cut, what could you set up?

Michelle Gauthier: 10:43

Another thing to think about, too, is what if you really were going on vacation to some far away place that did not have Wi-Fi? Would everyone survive? Think about that, even if you are, just like me, live in St Louis and going to Minnesota. If you think about it that way, like I, am unreachable for the next week. What really is going to happen and why do we feel like it's okay to do it? If we are going to another country, or we'll be in a really strange different time zone than we're used to, or we don't have Wi-Fi or cell service, that it's okay, but it's not okay to just decide that you're on vacation.

Michelle Gauthier: 11:18

So here's what we talked about. First of all, we talked about how vacation prep feels like a lot, because it is a lot. We talked about how to do your prep in the most efficient way and making sure you're clear on what must get done and what are nice to haves, and then how to set up your out-of-office actual message and how you communicate to the people who you work with. One bonus that I've seen work really well with lots of my one-on-one clients is that they, upon return, take one more vacation day. So if you come back from vacation on Saturday or Sunday and you take Monday off and you have that whole day to do whatever you want to do if you want to catch up on your laundry, unpack, wash your sheets and put clean sheets on your bed, take a nap, whatever it is I have just found over time that people feel so much more rested and sometimes they'll even go through their work emails on that day that they're off, so they don't walk into the office feeling blindsided. Hopefully a couple of these tips will help you have a great vacation with your family this summer.

Michelle Gauthier: 12:21

If you like this episode or any of the episodes on this podcast, I would be so grateful if you would take the time to do a rating or review. Those are super helpful because they help other people see the podcast. When it has a lot of great ratings and people come and search for overwhelmed, for example, this podcast pops up first. So I really appreciate you listening and I appreciate you sharing the message with your friends. Have a great week and have a great vacation. Thank you for listening to the Overwhelmed Working Woman podcast. If you want to learn more about my work, head over to my website at michellegauthiercom. See you next week.