You’ve heard of the Sunday Scaries—the wave of anxiety that hits early Sunday evening, right as the last rays of weekend sun fade to the cold reality that Monday awaits. But the Sunday Scaries are nothing compared to their more intense cousin, the Getaway Gloomies.

The Getaway Gloomies may be a term I made up, but that doesn’t make it less real. It’s the moment you realize vacation is coming to an end—the morning walks along the beach, the midday coffee and book break, the late afternoon nap—all on the verge of ending. Soon, you’ll be back at your desk, the protective shield of the Slack palm tree emoji and chipper “OOO” autoresponse cruelly stripped away, leaving you vulnerable once again to meeting requests and urgent emails.

The Getaway Gloomies can strike anyone, even if you love what you do. Here’s how to cope.

Lay The Pre-Departure Groundwork

Getting ready for PTO is never easy, and it’s always tempting to succumb to a case of “I’ll just deal with this when I get back”-itis. It’s important to resist this urge.

Instead, tie up the loose ends in a way your future self will thank you for. Brief your colleagues that you’ll be away, and work with them to mitigate the odds of surprises cropping up while you’re gone. Wrap up any to-do’s that may niggle at you while you’re OOO. It will be worth it, I promise.

Before I take off for any time away, whether it’s a basketball tournament for one of my kids or my annual visit to my family’s olive farm in Turkey, I’ve also learned to do one thing: I write down every decision that might land on my desk while I’m gone, then hand each one to someone who can make the call without me. Having built delegation into my workflow makes it much less painful when I need to step away—and eliminates the risk of having to field questions from a beach chair.

Take Time To Actually Recharge

Not all vacations are created equal. I’ve had colleagues use their PTO to climb Kilimanjaro, sail across the Atlantic and run ultramarathons through the desert. One person’s holiday from hell is another’s zen.

The problems arise when you return from your time away more exhausted than when you left. Yes, biking the length of a country can be rewarding, but you may also want to consider whether dismounting on a Sunday is going to leave you feeling fresh and ready for Monday’s all-hands. Tempting as it is to try to maximize your PTO, make sure you actually build in space to get your bearings for reentry. Personally, I like at least one buffer day—time to unpack, get the house in order, and get a good night’s sleep. When I wake up on my first Monday back, I feel ready to take on whatever’s piled up while I’ve been out.

Similarly, it’s important to genuinely protect your time off. If you spend the entire time fielding work calls and putting out fires back at the office, you’re not actually giving your mind a chance to rest —you’ve just moved your desk to a more scenic location.

If your re-entry is feeling less-than-seamless, you’re not alone. “Coming back from vacation is a gigantic shock to the system,” Tessa West, an NYU psychology professor and expert on interpersonal interaction, tells Harvard Business Review. Our minds are naturally resistant to sudden changes in routine, which also explains why it takes a few days to settle into vacation mode.

Acknowledging this—and giving yourself some grace—can help take some strain off of the transition. Rather than stacking your to-do list with every deferred item, pick two or three things to tackle and focus on those. I’m a fan of the Eisenhower Matrix, which categorizes tasks on the basis of urgency and importance, helping me figure out what needs to be done ASAP and what can wait (or be eliminated completely).

Also, avoid meetings first thing. This is the time for strategizing your week and getting urgent work done. In fact, I like to block off my availability until my second day back, knowing I’ll feel more organized and present than at 9 a.m. Monday morning.

When you’re back at your desk, take stock of what your time away gave you. Maybe you broke your habit of checking emails the second you awoke. Maybe you savored your coffee ritual.

Obviously, there are parts of vacation you can’t recreate in your day-to-day life. But if there are little things you loved—quiet mornings, eating without multitasking—figure out how to keep doing them once you’re back.

In all likelihood, the Getaway Gloomies will subside within a few days. But by taking the above steps, you can make your transition back to real life a lot less painful, and make getting back into the swing of things as smooth as possible.