Five Interesting Ways to Overcome Post-Holiday Blues

Tips to Overcome Post-Holiday Blues

Holidays are days of fun and frolic, plenty of time for family and friends, endless eating binges, great company, good music, presents and more, leaving you on a high note the whole time.

Getting back to the grind of work and routine can be a very difficult task, emotionally as well as physically, leaving you with questions that range from are you in the right job to is this what you want out of life?

Some people may just feel a little low while others may suffer a more deep-seated depression. A study conducted in Hungary found that there were more suicides after the Christmas-New Year holiday season than during any other holiday season. While it may not be as serious for most of us, there are certain periods of feeling low that all of us have to cope with after the holidays. To keep these blues at bay and to stay as cheerful and as happy as you march into work the next day, here are top 5 tips to help you fight the holiday blues.

Tip 1: Exercise

One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to get fit or lose weight, which begins with starting a good exercise routine. While most people hope to start it from the beginning of the year, very few actually do. The best way to fight the blues and to keep with your resolutions for the year is to go for a long walk or jog in the morning. The fresh air and the copious amounts of the ‘happy hormone’ oxytocin will do wonders for your mood and health. This definitely would be a great way to start the day and the year ahead.

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Tip 2: Carry Out a Random Act of Kindness

During the holiday season do something that will bring a smile to someone’s face. Sponsor a child’s education, donate your eyes or it could be as simple as helping someone fill out an application form. It’s not about how big the task is, but how important the task is for the person you are doing it. Helping others can bring a sense of warmth and happiness which will help you stay positive and happy.

Tip 3: Prioritize Your Work

Prioritize your holiday schedule as well your work schedule soon after the holidays are over. Do only what is absolutely essential and what needs immediate attention. Crazy schedules, especially during Christmas, with time and effort spent on unnecessary trips and chores can leave you feeling exhausted and cranky.

Instead, draw up exactly what you want to do during the holidays, people you wish to meet and buy gifts only for people who mean a lot. This way your energy is spent only on what you really want to do, cutting out frills that could drain your energy. Low energy levels, empty bank balances and strained interpersonal relationships are leading causes of depression post holidays.

The chill has also been blamed for making holiday blues worse, so stay warm and wear comfortable clothes to work.

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Tip 4: Learn to Delegate

Don’t try to do everything yourself, you can’t bake, cook a 7-course meal and drive 2 hours to bring your granny home for dinner. Learn to delegate; get others to help you with your tasks. You will be amazed at how happy they would be to help you. Moreover, it will also get them to feel useful and integral to the celebrations.

This can work at the office too, it can be daunting to sieve through piled up work but effective delegation will help sort out your work without stressing you out.

Tip 5: Fill Your House with Light

Dark and gloomy houses can turn out to be cradles of depression, bringing a stark contrast to the great holiday you just experienced. The first thing you should do is to let as much sunlight into the house as is possible or light up the house with artificial light. This will add cheer to the house and banish the blues away.

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This can also help with jet lag, traveling across the Pacific and across time zones for holidays can leave your biological clock wired all wrong. With the sun streaming in, it will make it harder for the body to doze during the day.

Life is all about choices and choosing to be happy is one such choice. Be aware of what makes you happy and stick to doing that. If you love your job then you never have to work another day they say, so find something that makes you truly happy and something that you would love returning to, even after the most stressful holiday!