Forget the Abs - Here’s How to Get Your Nervous System Beach-Ready 😎

A four-week psychological warm-down to help you actually rest when your holiday begins - not three days before it ends.

Back in the 2000s, magazines were filled with tips on how to get “beach body ready” - with celery sticks and ab crunches. Thankfully, that narrative is shifting. But there’s a different kind of preparation many of us still miss: getting our nervous systems vacation-ready.

By this I mean preparing your brain-body system so you can actually rest when the time comes.

Because for many of us, holiday mode doesn’t arrive when the plane lands. Instead of 'switching off', you find yourself retreating under a towel to check your emails. Or booking full-day excursions just to avoid the guilt of doing nothing. You want to feel relaxed - but your body doesn't get there until the last few days of your time away.

The Detachment-Recovery Model shows that psychological detachment from work is one of the most important ingredients in work-stress management. Psychological detachment means not thinking about work during leisure time. It’s not enough to be physically away from your desk: your brain needs to step away too. But for many of us that shift doesn’t happen the moment we clock off - because it needs preparing for.

This 4-week plan is for anyone who’s crashed into their holiday still in go-mode, too wired to unwind. It’s a psychological warm-down that helps your nervous system downshift, so you can start resting from day one.

What Does It Mean to Be “Nervous System Ready”?

Our autonomic nervous system* constantly scans our surroundings for safety, and our body switches gear according to the level of threat picked up:

Green gear (Ventral Vagal): Calm, connected, present. This is the state where rest and contentedness occur. Amber gear (Sympathetic): Mobilised and alert - great for productivity and quick-fire responses (not what we want when we are on holiday necessarily). Red gear (Dorsal Vagal): Shut down, withdrawn, numb. The place we can go to when we don't ever re-set or get a break from chronic stressors. Due to the always-on culture we live in, many of us get stuck in amber - or even red - right up until take-off. Then either expect our system to flip to green instantly.

But that’s not how it works. You need to gently transition down the gears like you would if coming off a motorway in 6th gear, and this plan gives you exactly that.

Week 1: Interrupt the incoming stressors

Focus on: Starting to communicate your boundaries.

At Work

Share your offline dates publicly. Add a note to your email footer, internal calendar, or even mention it on social media. Reinforce this message IRL too. Mention in meetings or casual conversations that you’re preparing for leave. Let people know you're winding down and won’t be picking up new tasks until you're back. It protects your last weeks before going. Block out “buffer time.” Use your calendar to protect space for handovers and wrapping up. Don't cram the last weeks!

At Home

Start prepping in bits. Pull out your suitcase, gather chargers, check suncream. Micro-tasks now prevent last-minute chaos. Leave the week before your trip light. Say no to extra social plans or errands - you need a buffer at home too.

Start connecting to your holiday. Talk about what you're looking forward to with friends or family. Read blogs or The Lonely Planet guide so you start to imagine how your time away will look and feel.

Week 2: Create Micro-Moments of Safety

Focus on: Gentle separation from overstimulation to start easing out of amber gear.

At Work

Begin tech prep. List the apps or tools you’ll mute or remove next week so you can start to plan for this.

Set a mental “handover line.” Write down what can wait until after your leave - then stick to it. It gives your mind closure.

Slow one task per day. Send one email with extra care. Walk slower between meetings. Prove to your nervous system that it’s safe to pause.

At Home

Rediscover a detachment activity. If you're not used to detaching from work then prepare now by buying a sudoku or crossword book, choosing an easy knitting pattern or downloading puzzle games. Choose things you've enjoyed in the past that are engaging but not too tricky to re-start.

Trial a “no-phone pocket.” Choose one mealtime or short walk to go fully screen-free to break the habit of checking work related apps.

Create a holiday playlist or reading list. Read reviews of books you might want to take or make a summer playlist of your old faves - it will help you feel engaged for what's to come.

Week 3: Address the Guilt

Focus on: Shifting the beliefs that make rest feel unsafe, and firming up disconnection.

At Work

Delete or mute work apps now. Remove or hide them from your home screen to reduce habitual checking - catch yourself when you mindlessly go to check and gently guide yourself back to what you were doing.

Let go of “just one more thing.” Remind yourself that undone tasks will survive without you - and so will everyone else.

Notice and challenge productivity guilt. When guilt shows up, try an affirmation “It’s safe for me to take a proper break. My worth doesn’t depend on constant output.”

At Home

Write a permission slip. “I don’t have to earn my rest. I am allowed to take up space and stop.” Stick it somewhere visible.

Don't aim for a 'clean break'. Trying to clear everything before you leave is a fast track to exhaustion. Accept that some tasks will have to wait. Block time in your return week for catching up at home, and write a “to return to” list -your brain can relax more easily when it knows you’ve got a re-entry plan.

Name your guilt story. Whether it’s “I’ll fall behind” or “People will think I’m lazy,” say it out loud - and then add a prefix: "I notice I'm having the thought that..." and notice how this lessens the hold over you.

Week 4: Simulate Your Holiday State

Focus on: Final detaching from the To-Do list and transitioning into holiday-mode

At Work

Hold boundaries firmly. Decline late requests with a confident "lets schedule this for when I'm back".

Set your OOO a day early. Then no one will expect responses and you can wind down. Bonus points if you can add a line that discourages colleagues from emailing you whilst away - scripts for that here if you want help with this.

Trial your “holiday hour.” Take a real lunch. Go for a walk without your phone - rehearse detaching.

At Home

Use your senses: put on some suncream because the smell can stimulate holiday-memories. Look at past holiday-photos. Let your system soak in the cues of past relaxed times.

Pack a transition toolkit: activities that you can easily engage in to smooth the transition. A recommended page-turner, a funny podcast, a brain teaser, pack of cards. Make them easy to reach.

Connect with your holiday intentions: ask yourself "what do I want and need from this break?" and "how do I want to be" - taking a moment to re-align with your values will help you to make good decisions about how to spend your time when you arrive.

Remember

Rest doesn’t start when your feet touch the sand, it starts when your nervous system gets the message: it's safe to stop for now. These small, daily signals to your brain and body that it’s safe to downshift can help strengthen your resolve to leave work at work this year.

Found this helpful?

Do join the publication to receive more of these here:

And share this with anyone who tends to come home from their holidays saying - It was great, but I didn’t relax until the second week…

Lots more where this came from in my burnout book too.