AS I gear up for a nine-day holiday for which I have no current plans, no flight or hotel bookings, and no commitments, I find myself naturally exhilarated.

Like anyone else primed for a vacation, I'm looking forward to leaving work behind, just as I'm sure I will be sorry to see the holiday end.

It is a known fact that, once holiday-time is up, thoughts of returning to the workplace turn one's mind towards dread.

But what if one could harness that blissful holiday mood and bring it to work every day?

What if one could actually look forward to coming to work?

I think it's possible, if you believe that attitudes and mental states are all self-created.

Your opinion of a situation, for example, can change drastically given the mental and emotional state you're in - which changes daily and which explains, in part, why every day is different.

Work has always been a struggle for me. Not because I don't like it, but because I, like anyone else, can simply get tired, burnt out, or cranky.

And when those feelings set in, I dread going to work, despite the fact that I'm exactly where I want to be in terms of career, and in terms of a chosen profession and a workplace.

My current job is a considered choice - when looking for a new job, I wanted a place that gave me enough room for creativity and freedom, had good benefits, and would allow me time for a life. I am grateful that I got all that. Thus, I usually bounce, bunny-like, into work.

But last week, with the onset of a cold, I became snarly and resentful. Work, barring Satan's den, was the last place I wanted to be. And all due to a little sniffly cold that banished the good vibes from my being.

While there's little one can do for a cold, there's a lot one can do to bring a good attitude into work every day.

A wise friend once told me that we are made to work. And work is defined by any endeavour that one chooses in life, be it an office job pushing paper, or voluntarily building huts and toilets for refugees.

I'm not a religious person, but something resonated when she asked me to consider any work I did as God's work. The way I see it, God - or whatever force is responsible for putting the universe and all it holds into being - is a creator, and creating is his/her/its profession.

And this may be the key to understanding exactly how, as so many religious texts say, humans are made in God's image.

Any work we choose to do is deeply and irrevocably connected to that spirit of creation.

Which means that work - and again I stress here, any work - is a divine function. You and I are not simply cogs in a machine. Instead, through working, we are fulfilling our purpose in life, our purpose here on this earth.

Ruminating on that theory always puts a spring back into my step.

So, I'm prepared to go off and enjoy every moment of my vacation, whatever that future may hold. And when it comes time to return to the office, I'm going to meditate again on what my friend told me.

Just thinking about it, I'm looking forward to coming back to work already.

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