Is that even a word? I’ve always thought so, but now I’m not so sure. I’m thinking it might be like “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” in that it wasn’t a word in the dictionary, but now it is? 

I don’t know, because I’m discombobulated. I suppose I should look it up, but I’m busy. 

I’d like to be clearer (more clear?) but I’m unsure how. 

Here’s the thing: I went on vacation with That Dog Named Gidget and a pal. Vacation. You know, that time of year when folks get out of town for a bit in order to chill out, take a load off and relax? Yeah, that. 

Of course, in order to have things in order, one must do more work than usual in advance of said vacation, and often work twice as hard upon returning simply to catch up.

And then there’s the “post-vacation depression” (PVD) to deal with. I put quotation marks around it here, because apparently PVD, unbeknownst to me, is a thing. 

Busy or not, I decided to look that up and found a periodical, Medical News Today, that had this to say:  “Although research has found that vacations may help to improve mood, reduce mental stress, and increase life satisfaction, the positive effects may disappear within the first week of [going back to] everyday life.

“On returning home,” it states, “people may feel pressure to immediately get back to work and their daily routine, which may cause mental stress to increase again.” Yeah, that.

Meanwhile, as I write this, there’s a holiday (Columbus Day) on the horizon, so the entire staff at the River Reporter is working overtime in order to take a day off.

As a result, I’m a little bit you-know-what. 

By the time you read this, the annual Narrowsburg Logging Days (10/7) will have come and gone, but since it hasn’t happened yet, I can’t write about it now. 

See what I mean? 

Aside from that, I have plans for the future/past to attend the Callicoon Art Walk (10/8) but again, I’m getting ahead of myself. 

Under normal circumstances, I’d be sharing my thoughts on this and that, including photos from that and this, and sharing tidbits about spending time with photographers from the Eddie Adams Workshop, who would have already descended on Sullivan County as they do each year. The prize-winning photogs will have been snapping pics and capturing images of life in the Upper Delaware River region—but none of that has happened yet, because I’m a week ahead of myself, playing catch-up from vacation and anticipating what has yet to occur because I’m—you guessed it—Discombobulated and Depressed, Attorneys at Law.  

“Stress in the workplace may contribute to post-vacation depression,” the aforementioned article informs me. “Vacations may provide an escape from a stressful situation at work, which people then have to face when they return.” 

In addition, researchers found that “benefits only occurred in people with low work stress. In some people, work stress appeared to spread into the pre- and post-vacation periods, which may reduce the vacation’s positive effects.”

I’m sure there are those who might argue that my job is stress-free. “Oh, c’mon,” someone once flippantly said on hearing me complain about being stressed out. “All you do is go to puppet shows, plays and parades, take a few pictures and scribble some notes about it in the paper. How hard can that be?” 

Uh huh.

Meanwhile, I can’t “scribble some notes” about an event that has yet to occur, can I? Hmmm. What I can do is look back on past Logging Days, on Art Walks gone by and even the Eddie Adams Workshop, all of which I’ve “scribbled” about over the years. I know I’m looking forward to all three, but since my crystal ball is in the shop, I can’t honestly predict how any of those events will turn out. 

And on top of that, I’m still a little depressed.

“People may find documenting their trip in a journal, or making an album of photos may help them cope with negative emotions post-vacation,” the online magazine suggests. Of course, documenting my trip and making an album of photos is (according to the snarky observations of my “friend”) what I do for a living, so…

“Keeping souvenirs from their vacation or giving one to someone may allow people to share vacation experiences” the article states in conclusion. “It may also strengthen their intention to revisit a place they enjoyed.” 

I didn’t shower my pals with mementoes, but with luck, I will definitely be returning to the lovely vacation destination from whence I have just returned, aka the Finger Lakes. If fading memory serves, I had a great time. It’s already difficult to recall, because I’m a little discombobulated.