How To Avoid The Post-Holiday Blues

THIS week marks the return to work for many who have had the luxury of some time off over the festive season. Feeling relaxed, recharged and rejuvenated people are heading back to their usual routines, with sleep-ins and lazy beach days now a distant memory.

For some, the post-holiday blues has probably set in, with people feeling despondent about having to get back to the daily grind.

When we’re on holiday we spend time doing things just because we want to, rather than what we feel we have to.

Whether it’s enjoying an out-of-the-ordinary late night, a sunset, a long swim or a nap, we say to ourselves that we must do this more often.

But most of us get back to our normal routines once the holidays are over, and forget all about what we promised ourselves.

With most people having travel on their resolution as well as their bucket lists, it’s suffice to say most of us enjoy being on holidays. We don’t need a reminder that having them is extremely beneficial for both our physical and mental health.

When people are away, out of their usual routine and without their important roles hanging over their head, is often when people feel most alive.

It’s always just what they needed. But unless you’re wealthy enough to be a regular traveller, and good for you if you are, the problem about holidays is they don’t happen as regularly as most of us would like.

With the majority of workers being allocated leave for less than four weeks a year leave, most of us are relegated to dreaming about our holiday through our tropical island computer screen saver.

But what do we learn when we pluck ourselves out of our schedule of work, meetings, appointments and the same old dinners routine?

And what are we actually doing for ourselves that is so different that it makes us feel more alive? When you think about it, who want to only be feeling their best on holiday, which is merely a few weeks a year?

To sustain that holiday feeling, we need to be incorporating some of our holiday behaviours into our daily lives, when we are not on holiday. It seems obvious, but many people don’t do it.

We can learn a lot from our holiday selves. It’s also likely that we’re more physically active during the day, something that us office workers tend not to do. Whether exploring new places, hiking in the bush, kayaking in rivers or swimming in hotel