Vacation discomfort is your high‑alert firefighter wiring slamming into stillness and needing a smarter, gentler way to downshift
Q: Why do I hate vacations? Shouldn’t a week at the beach be fun?
Doc: You’re definitely not the only one asking this question. If you feel restless, irritable, or even kind of miserable a couple of days into a beach vacation, there’s a real reason for it.
Firefighting isn’t just a career — it’s a conditioning environment. You’ve been conditioned to operate in chaotic, kinetic environments where your brain and body are constantly scanning, reacting, and pushing energy outward. Your adrenaline system adjusts upward and wants to maintain a stable level of adrenaline.
Over time, your system adapts to that pace. Your baseline shifts. What feels “normal” to you is a level of activation that would exhaust most people.
So when you suddenly go from that to … a lounge chair and the sound of waves, your body doesn’t automatically interpret that as “relaxing.” It can actually feel like something is off. You might get edgy, bored, or even anxious. That’s your system trying to hold onto the level of activation it’s used to.
The key isn’t forcing yourself to relax harder. That usually backfires. The key is learning how to downshift on purpose.
Start by giving your body a way to discharge some of that built-up energy. For some firefighters, that’s physical — lifting weights, swimming hard, hiking, even something repetitive like chopping wood if you’ve got access. You’re not “failing at vacation” by doing this — you’re meeting your nervous system where it is.
For others, cold exposure can help reset things. A cold plunge or even a cold shower can stimulate your vagus nerve and help your body transition out of that high-alert state. It’s quick, effective, and doesn’t require much time.
Then there’s sensory downshifting. Music is a big one. Not background noise — immersive music that you actually sit with. Headphones on, phone down. Let your system slow down a notch without forcing it to drop 10 levels all at once.
Here’s another move that works well: don’t design a vacation that’s 100% stillness. Build in intentional stimulation. That could be surfing, paddleboarding, exploring a new place, or even structured activities with your crew or family. You’re not trying to recreate the fireground — you’re just avoiding a total drop-off in engagement.
The sweet spot is a mix: controlled activity plus gradual recovery.
One more thing: give it time. The first couple of days might feel rough. That doesn’t mean the whole trip is a loss. Often, once your system realizes it’s safe to stand down, you’ll start to feel a different kind of energy come online — one that’s not driven by urgency.
You don’t hate vacations. You just haven’t been shown how to transition into them in a way your body understands.
Once you figure that out, they start to feel a whole lot better — and a lot more worth it.
Shauna ‘Doc’ Springer, PhD is a pioneering psychologist, award-winning Military Times podcast host, and one of the world’s leading experts on psychological trauma, moral injury, suicide prevention, close relationships and the unique needs of the military and first responder communities. Doc Springer provides highly specialized consultation and confidential advising to organizations and public safety agencies that support protectors and defenders through her company THIN LINE ADVISORY.
