Back in the saddle again . . .

I'm back in the office after four days in the Washington, D.C./northern Virginia area and I'm definitely paying the price for too little sleep and a long drive in the car with kids. Referencing my earlier remarks about the phenomenon of time-space dilation, I'm convinced that time passes more quickly in Manhattan than in the outside world. Although I was gone for only four days, returning to New York City one feels as if eight days passed here while we were gone. I know, I know. That's impossible, obviously, but it really does feel as if we had left the city for a longer period. And now I return to a wall of emails, notes tacked to my desk, and phone messages.

What worries me, however, is that I almost feel overwhelmed by the tasks to which I've returned . . . although they're really not that monumental. But after four days of eating out, swimming in a nice pool and soaking in a hot tub - mind you, while visiting family and dealing with that task's attendant issues - I just feel a little fragile and out of synch, as if I'm not firing on all cylinders. It's just this disjointed feeling that has always made me paranoid about taking vacation time (and prompted my previous boss to order me to take vacation days). I panic over potential crises that might materialize in my absence. I worry that someone will try to do my job while I'm gone and ultimately threaten any perceived job security I might have.

Obviously I need a vacation from the vacation, but then the panic would start again, the paranoia would creep back into my thoughts, and I'd start checking email obsessively. Does anyone else feel this way? Is vacation a source of job-related stress?