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Working on a public holiday? Here’s how it can still feel special
27th May, 2026 04:54 PM
It is Eid, the city is quieter than usual, and you are at your desk. Maybe you are checking emails while everyone else is at a family lunch. Maybe you are covering a shift while the group chat is already sharing photos of the celebrations you are missing. It stings a little, and that is fair to admit.
But working on a public holiday does not automatically mean losing the day. What it means is that you have to be more intentional about it than everyone else.
The rest does not just happen the way it would if you had the day off; you have to go and claim it.
Start the day like it is a holiday, even briefly
Before you open a single work tab, give the morning something that belongs to you. That might be a longer breakfast than usual, a walk around the estate, or sitting with a cup of tea without your phone.
Even thirty minutes of intentional ease before a shift creates a psychological buffer that carries you further than you would expect.
Research backs this up. A 2025 study published in Behavioral Sciences found that “all four recovery experiences were positively related to well-being, with relaxation emerging as the strongest predictor” of how well people hold up against the pressures of work.
On a day that is supposed to be restorative, deliberately building relaxation in is not a luxury. It is maintenance.
During the shift itself, protect your breaks fiercely. Step away from the screen during lunch. Put on something you enjoy in the background if your work allows it. Text back a few of those people celebrating.
Staying connected to the spirit of the day, even sideways, keeps it from feeling like the day simply did not happen.
Plan something worth coming home to
The move that changes a working holiday entirely is having a specific plan for after the shift. Not a vague “I’ll relax,” but something concrete and small: a meal you have been meaning to try, a call with the people you missed seeing, a movie, a walk somewhere you like.
It gives the shift a finish line, and crossing it feels like arriving somewhere rather than simply stopping.
Kenyans who work in media, healthcare, hospitality, and essential services do this every public holiday. The ones who come out of it without resentment are almost always the ones who refused to surrender the whole day to the shift.
They worked their hours, then they celebrated – later, smaller, but genuinely.
You can do the same today. Clock in, do good work, clock out, and then go and find your version of the holiday. It is still waiting.
