How to banish post-holiday blues from the workplace

By David Price, CEO of Health Assured and workplace wellbeing expert 

It’s summer, and it’s time to get away. Everyone’s jetting off to faraway climes; whether you enjoy the blazing sunshine or the Arctic blizzards, it’s the time of year to get away, relax and take your mind off work for a couple of weeks.
Thing is, once that couple of weeks is over, it’s back to the daily grind. And the thought of being chained to your desk for eight hours a day, trudging to and from the office, slowly chipping away at a mountain of tasks—well, it’s enough to bring anyone down. Even if your job isn’t that bad — even if you love your job — we can all feel a certain post-holiday blues.
This isn’t just a bit of a slump—it’s serious. It saps energy, makes you feel rotten. But there are ways to beat these blues, with a little planning and forethought. Here are some of the best ways:
Take time to readjust
Don’t just get home on a Sunday night and be back at your desk on Monday morning—you’ll be tired, you’ll be jetlagged, and you’ll probably still be full of holiday food (and possibly alcohol).
Take an extra few days to do very little. Unpack, get your life back in order, fix your sleeping patterns. It’s not quite an extension of the holiday, but readjusting to home life is a vital bookend, and it’ll make getting back to a routine a lot easier.
Stay busy
Once you are back at work, make sure your time is full. Don’t sit and think too hard about the holiday you just left behind—of course, memories are great, and you’ll have fun telling and showing your colleagues the pictures, videos and tan you’ve got.
But making sure you’re as busy as possible will help stop glumness kicking in. This should be at work and home—take up a project, finish one you already have, go out and see friends. It’s important to stay busy and have fun doing so.
Back away from social media
Everyone’s feeds are full of sunshine at this time of year. The Instagram feeds of your friends are brimming with sandy beached and bronzed flesh—and yours likely is, too. The problem is that this is a stark reminder of the shiny holiday you just left behind…
It’s a good idea to spend a little time without the focusing lens of social media when you get back from holidays. Update your profiles, upload your photos, write your blog about the great time you had—then log out, and don’t touch it for a few days.
You’re right, logging out for days at a time is hard. It’s going to feel like you’ve severed a link to the outside world. But remember—those social media feeds are going to be full of people who are still enjoying their holidays, and it’ll make you long to go back.
Focus on feeling good
So, now that you’ve logged out of Facebook, got yourself a few days to readjust and decided on some projects, it’s time to work on your wellbeing. Eating well, hydrating (it’s still summer, after all), sleeping properly and concentrating on feeling good about yourself are the most important steps.
Follow these tips, and you’ll feel a lot better about getting back to reality. And when you’re feeling great about yourself, then next year’s holiday will seem to come around all the faster.
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