diff --git a/modules/misc/xdg-user-dirs.nix b/modules/misc/xdg-user-dirs.nix
index c9912812f..1198ea039 100644
--- a/modules/misc/xdg-user-dirs.nix
+++ b/modules/misc/xdg-user-dirs.nix
@@ -137,7 +137,8 @@ in {
 
     home.activation.createXdgUserDirectories = mkIf cfg.createDirectories (let
       directoriesList = attrValues directories;
-      mkdir = (dir: ''run mkdir -p $VERBOSE_ARG "${dir}"'');
+      mkdir =
+        (dir: ''[[ -L "${dir}" ]] || run mkdir -p $VERBOSE_ARG "${dir}"'');
     in lib.hm.dag.entryAfter [ "linkGeneration" ]
     (strings.concatMapStringsSep "\n" mkdir directoriesList));
   };