6 ways to beat the post holiday blues

Coming back to work after the festive season can be a massive drag. We’re back to reality, back to routine after (for some) an extended period of fun times. And it can be particularly demoralising when our social media is loaded with images of fabulous holiday-goddesses lounging about on the beach in their kaftans and fedoras.

Post holiday blues can be a thing (although clearly it’s a first world problem!) and it’s something that can affect people in the early months of the year.

If you’ve read any of my posts leading up to Christmas, you would have no doubt determined that I am ridiculously jolly-hockey-sticks about the festive season. Perhaps to the point of being slightly deranged. But I can’t help it, I seriously LOVE the festive season.  Thus I’m sure you can see how, in years gone by, I ended up afflicted to varying degrees by the post holiday blues.

I’m pretty ok about it all now. But there’s a few things I do now each year to make the transition to normality a bit more bearable.

1. Perspective

When I’m struggling with the concept of heading back to work I firstly give myself a stern talking to. Something along these lines: “Listen toots, you are bloody lucky to have a holiday. Suck it up princess, get on with it, and stop being a prize dick-wad.”

I mean. Seriously.

2. Start something new

Kick some of your bad habits in the arse when you get back to work. It’s exciting to start on a new journey, whether it is related to health or fitness,  creativity, business or philanthropy. Set some goals, map out your approach, share your resolutions with others, be consistent and stick with it.

It will keep you occupied and give you something more important to think about.

3. Be well rested

These days we holiday for two weeks at the beach every year. We used to only take a week and never felt like we’d had enough of a break. I’d be back at work desperate for more, especially because for us this is often our only holiday for the year.

It’s not cheap as it is peak season but for us it is worth it and we have a savings plan throughout the year to enable it to happen.

This clearly isn’t for everyone, but I would suggest that where possible, you try and take a break over the holidays to ensure you feel really rested. That way you won’t feel like you need a holiday from your holiday when you get back on the work-pony.

4. Nurture yourself

You’ve quite possibly tied one on (ie drunk too much) or eaten too many rum balls or seen too much sun and salt or not slept enough. Take the time to give your face and hair some lovin. Do your toenails. Blitz up a green smoothie or munch some salad. Get yourself some solid sleep. Maybe try treating your body like the temple it is for a few weeks (or days).

5. Make plans

Give yourself something to look forward to: a sexy weekend away with yourself, a winter wine country mini-break, a cocktail party with the girls, a school holiday camping trip. Doesn’t need to be big, just a thing you’d like to do.

6. Be organised and prepared

Whether it be sorting your clothes, prepping some frozen meals, making stock for soup lunches or decluttering your jewellery, try to get organised prior to going back to work.

I have a pathological loathing of ironing (and washing isn’t much better in my mind) but I like to have the full quota of wardrobe choices available when I go back to work. This means I need to get out the ironing board.

Whilst I intensely dislike ironing, it’s I’m surprisingly excellent at it. This is so repugnant to me. It makes me feel I am somehow letting down my feminist sisterhood.

Yeah so I can wrangle any garment, no matter how complicated or smashed up and leave it statisfyingly wrinkle free. I put this down to the training I received in my youth. Not only was my mother obsessed with linen and swathed us in Country Road white linen shirts like they were going out of fashion (which they did in 1991), she also believed in hard work and as girls my sister and I were required to do our own ironing. This was especially challenging from the linen point of view. But also we attended an all girls school, and our uniforms were so complex in their structure and fabric with all manner of pintucks, pleats, puff sleeves and strange gatherings that ironing them was like navigating a European highway. Or training for an Olympic sport.

(Needless to say, our uniforms were also sinfully butt-ugly. This ensured that anyone of the opposite sex who may have considered approaching, was instantly repulsed by our dour, ecclesiastical attire. They knew immediately upon sight of our pious glimmer that getting anywhere beyond base 0.5 would have been unthinkable and would run for the hills.)

Apologies, I digress.

What are your thoughts on post holiday blues. Is it a thing? Do you suffer from it or do it think it is a complete load of bullshit?