For some in education, the arrival of the summer holidays brings a mixture of relief at the thought of a break from work but also the feeling of underlying anxiety at the prospect of the return.
This scheduled break presents a chance to recharge, reconnect with family or perhaps even catch up on sleep, before returning to work in September. However, worries might interfere with that much needed down time.
Perhaps you’ve caught yourself thinking:
“I should be using this time to prepare.”
“Everyone else seems ready for September.”
“I’ve worked hard, I deserve this break. Why can’t I switch off?”
Your mind might be racing about budget constraints, new staff appointments, targets, workloads, planning, challenges with colleagues, or even a particularly difficult student.
Perhaps you’ve even questioned if you’re in the right profession.
It’s not just you
In my experience, such thoughts are commonplace. During my career in education, I remember looking forward to the end of term but I knew that the peace would be broken by intermittent thoughts about the return.
My mind remained occupied by anticipating difficulties, worries about returning to the everyday pressures and planning teaching. Looking back, I realise that I’d become so used to carrying responsibility and worrying about every perceived error I could make that relaxing didn’t happen simply because I wanted it to. I needed to explore these thoughts with someone else.
What helped was having someone who would simply listen, without judgement, so I could work things out for myself. I was lucky to have some good friends who were there for me, and this helped reduce my anxiety.
I don’t share this because its a solution for everyone. It’s not. I share it because talking things through helped me. There are many different forms of help, and it’s easy to believe you’re the only one struggling to switch off.
Evidence exists that such experiences are commonplace in the industry.
Education Support (1) identified widespread feelings among education staff of anxiety and apprehension about returning to work after a holiday, with anticipation of increased workloads and self-doubt being identified as potential sources of anxiety and stress.
Suggesting that worry about returning to education following the holidays is a broadly experienced issue.
What about men in education?
Men may also face particular barriers when it comes to seeking support. The NASUWT’s 2025 wellbeing survey (2) found differences in how male and female teachers respond when experiencing difficulties, with men less likely to take some forms of action to address them.
This does not mean that men experience anxiety about returning to education more than women. However, it may mean that some men are less likely to seek support when they recognise that they are struggling.
For someone who is used to managing problems themselves or simply getting on with things, asking for help may not always feel like an obvious first step.
What might be happening
So, what could be going on? Why is your sleep getting disturbed with unwanted thoughts? Why are you ruminating, or finding your stomach is getting upset?
Whilst it’s true that, none of us can know for certain why one person might experience anxiety when thinking about the return in September, there are avenues of exploration that can bring understanding in the long term and activities that are proven to help manage symptoms in the moment.
Counsellors don’t profess to have definitive answers. Instead, we draw on psychological theories that may help us make sense of a person’s experiences or point us in the right direction of enquiry, while recognising that every person is unique.
Rather than providing certainty, theories offer different lenses through which we can understand human experience. Ultimately, it’s the client’s own lived experience that remains the most important guide.
From a psychological perspective, one possible theory is that we develop beliefs about what we need to be or do in order to be accepted, valued or loved by other people.
For example, a child might learn:
“I’m only praised when I do well at school.”
“I have to be helpful to be liked.”
“I must keep everyone happy.”
Over time, these messages can become internal rules about how we think we should behave.
Often, we may not be consciously aware of these messages or the expectations we have developed from them. Becoming more aware of them can help us understand what might be underneath the anxiety.
Counselling can help you become more aware of the beliefs and expectations that may be contributing to your anxiety. With greater self-awareness, you can begin to recognise what is happening when the worry arises and decide how you want to respond.
This greater self-awareness can also provide the catalyst to instigate broader changes that lead to a more genuine and satisfying life.
This is one theory among many that can inform counselling, and your counsellor would work with you to jointly understand and make the changes you require through the course of therapy.
But what could help now? Here are some practical tools.
Exercises to try
Mindfulness involves learning to observe thoughts, emotions and present-moment experiences.
Research (3,4) suggests these two practices below can help with short-term stress/anxiety and are components of established mindfulness programmes.
Body scan
Grounding exercises like the body scan can help reduce feelings of stress by bringing attention back to the present moment.
Sitting comfortably or lying down, bring awareness to the breath. Aim to make your exhale slightly longer than your inhale. Once you feel calm, bring your attention to different parts of your body, moving from the feet towards your head and relaxing each part in turn. If your mind wanders, gently bring your attention back to what is happening right now.
The more you practise, the more effective the exercise may become at helping you to relax and settle your mind.
Mindful movement
Alternatively, mindful movement may be particularly useful as it can be incorporated into your daily activities.
Slow, deliberate movement for example, walking while paying attention to the sensations in the feet and legs, or gentle yoga-type movements while maintaining awareness of breathing and bodily sensations.
Like many mindfulness exercises, regular practice may be more beneficial than only using the technique when you feel particularly anxious.
However, if your anxiety is repeatedly telling you that something about your working life isn’t sustainable, simply becoming better at tolerating the feeling may not address the underlying cause.
Final thought
For some people, simple activities like those above may be enough to start reducing the feelings that surface when worries about returning to work in September come to you.
Others find the feelings are more pronounced and are connected to experiences that are difficult to explore alone. If that’s the case, working with a counsellor may help.
Counselling can provide a space to explore what is happening beneath the worry, develop greater self-awareness and consider how you want to respond.
As a counsellor working with men in education, I offer a confidential, non-judgemental space to explore these experiences at your own pace.
References
(1) Education Support (2025) Managing return-to-work anxiety: tips for teachers and education staff. Available at: https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/media/v5yfq3jc/return-to-work-anxiety-tips-for-education-staff.pdf (Accessed: 15 August 2026).
(2) NASUWT (2025) Teachers’ Wellbeing Survey Report 2025. NASUWT. Available at: https://www.nasuwt.org.uk/static/2b0a78c2-9dff-4bcc-a6207db277f63290/Teachers-Wellbeing-Survey-Report-2025.pdf (Accessed: 13 August 2026)
(3) Sparacio et al. (2024), “Self-administered mindfulness interventions reduce stress in a large, randomized controlled multi-site study,” published in Nature Human Behaviour, 8(9), 1716–1725.
(4) Xu, X., Abdullah, B.B., Samsudin, S.B. and Tan, Y. (2025) ‘Integrating mindfulness and physical activity: a meta-analysis of mindful movement interventions for symptoms of anxiety and depression among university students’, PeerJ, 13, e19640. doi: 10.7717/peerj.19640.
