Everyone experiences it...post-vacation blues. It's a deep funk, a return to reality that starts creeping into your psyche and your bones the last day/night of your vacation - no matter where you've gone.

You start thinking about your re-entry back into the routine of your days, the bags to unpack and dirty laundry to wash, which you may not get to for a several days because that brings a certain finality to the end of your summer getaway.

The thought of waking by an alarm clock again bums you out - chances are you stayed up late, slept in and didn't use a clock AT ALL while on vacation. The mere thought of the mountain of paperwork or hundreds of e-mails that await you, literally saddens you. It is almost unbearable.

Fleeting thoughts of actually living in the city of your vacation destination fill your head. Moving or quitting your job, even, start to sound like good ideas.

You become melancholy at having nothing to look forward to because a huge part of the thrill of getting away goes into the pre-planning of your trip. It's exciting, the notion of leaving work hassles for someone else and the day-to-day routine of your life behind.

You save up, make purchases especially for your get-away and soon, all your worries will be confined to whether you have enough sunscreen on, what time happy hour begins or oops, you slept late because you felt like it!

What will you look forward to next? Labor Day? It just doesn't compare, does it?

This "illness" is quite real, whether its all in your mind or just a mood, licensed therapists offer techniques to re-acclimate yourself back into your life with the least amount of disruption.

Next week: Find out how to overcome your post-vacation funk without quitting your job and running away...maybe.