Post holiday blues is a feeling of sadness because the holiday has ended. Someone who experiences this will usually experience depression, anxiety, stress and will not have the enthusiasm to resume daily activities.
Feelings of depression due to post holiday blues usually last for a few days. When you are in this condition, you will experience a decrease in mood, no energy and reduced concentration when working or studying.
If you experience something similar, then make sure you know how to prevent and overcome it below.
1. What Are Post Holiday Blues?
Some of you may still not understand what post holiday blues is. In order to better understand and know how to prevent and overcome it, you must first know the meaning, causes, symptoms and impacts, OK?
1.1 Definition of Post Holiday Blues
Post holiday blues means changes in mood and emotions that occur after you return from a holiday that felt enjoyable. These changes in emotions and mood are characterized by feelings of disappointment, lack of motivation to carry out daily activities and a bad mood.
Just imagine, a few days ago you were on a very pleasant holiday. However, now you have to deal with a mountain of work that you have been away from for several days.
So, this sudden change from exciting holiday moments to the demands and responsibilities of work is what is now known as post holiday blues.
1.2 Symptoms of Post Holiday Blues
There are several symptoms that arise when experiencing post holiday blues, namely:
1.2.1 Gets Tired Easily
The fun holiday time has taken up much of the energy you have. As a result, after the holiday ends, you will feel tired easily and lack energy. This will affect your own physical and mental health.
1.2.2 Insomnia
Feelings of anxiety and restlessness can cause you to experience insomnia or sleep disorders. Of course, this has a bad impact on your health because it means you don't get enough sleep.
1.2.3 Difficulty Concentrating
Difficulty concentrating is a common symptom of post-holiday blues. The thing is, the feeling of sadness that you feel can reduce your focus and make it difficult for you to remember things.
1.2.4 Continuous Feelings of Sadness
When the holidays end, it has a sad effect on almost everyone. However, if this feeling of sadness continues and makes it difficult for you to carry out daily activities, it could be a sign that you are experiencing symptoms of post holiday blues.
1.2.5 Anxious
Feelings of anxiety after a holiday arise because you are not ready or don't want to return to monotonous activities. You seem to want to go back to the happy holiday times and are not ready to face the reality that has been waiting for a long time.
1.2.6 Irritability
Instead of giving you a feeling of happiness, post holiday blues will make you irritable. This condition arises because of the stress that arises when re-adapting to your daily routine.
2. Causes of Post Holiday Blues
Meanwhile, the causes of post holiday blues occur because:
2.1 Feelings of Loss
The short duration of the holiday means you can't see your loved ones for too long, such as friends and family. After the holiday ends, you will feel lost and this will result in lowered enthusiasm for your activities.
2.2 Financial Stress
When you're on holiday, you unknowingly spend more money than usual. Starting from money for renting villas, vehicles, buying gifts for loved ones and others.
After the holiday is over, you will only realize the big expenses. For this reason, it can lead to experiencing financial stress, feeling tired and even having anxiety disorders.
2.3 Changes in Atmosphere and Activities
Changes in atmosphere and activities can also cause post-holiday blues to appear. While on holiday, you do activities that you want to do in a happy mood. However, after the holiday is over, you have to return to your daily activities which can sometimes make you bored.
This changes the emotional atmosphere from happy to sad and anxious because they are not ready to end the holiday time.
2.4 Mental Health
If you have mental health problems, the post holiday blues you feel will feel bigger. Not only after the holiday is over, you will feel a bad mental condition while you are on holiday.
If this happens, make sure you immediately contact a professional for consultation.
2.5 Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
The cause of post holiday blues for some people occurs due to seasonal affective disorder known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
Usually, this disorder occurs in winter when the days become shorter and the weather is cloudy. Switching from a sunny holiday and returning to activities in the middle of a less bright season will worsen SAD symptoms. As a result, you will feel more lethargic, tired and sad when carrying out daily activities.
2.6 Lack of preparation for returning to activities
Lack of preparation to return to activities is also the cause of post holiday blues. The body energy you spend on holiday makes you feel lazy, so you don't want to do anything.
Don't worry, you can overcome this by carefully preparing what activities you will do after the holiday. That way, you can fight feelings of laziness, anxiety, sadness and others. So, you can continue your activities as usual without having to worry about anything.
2.7 Comparison with Life on Vacation
After the holiday is over and returning to your usual monotonous activities often makes the brain start to compare life now with when you were on holiday.
Comparing holiday life and now will make you complacent and lazy to do anything. As a result, you often procrastinate work and lack enthusiasm.
3. Post Holiday Blues Impact
There are several impacts that post holiday blues can have on you, namely:
3.1 Reduces Work or Study Productivity
The first impact of post holiday blues is to reduce work and study productivity. It becomes difficult for you to focus and concentrate on the work or lessons you are studying.
Apart from that, when working or studying, the body becomes easily tired, weak and lacks motivation. As a result, work is delayed and it is difficult to start again.
3.2 Communication Disorders with Others
Not only does it reduce work and study productivity, the impact of post-holiday blues also disrupts communication with other people.
Someone who is in this condition is always easily angry and offended when chatting. This makes you less able to communicate effectively, so you start to withdraw from social interactions. In fact, it could be the cause of conflict with the people around you.
3.3 Increases the Risk of Drug Abuse
The impact of post holiday blues is quite dangerous because it can increase the risk of drug abuse. Starting from consuming excessive alcohol, using illegal drugs to smoking excessively. Of course, this is quite dangerous for body health because it will cause diseases to emerge.
3.4 Worsening Mental Health Conditions
Not only does this have an impact on physical health, this condition will worsen mental health conditions as well. You become easily depressed, stressed, overly anxious and even have insomnia or difficulty sleeping.
If this continues to happen for a long time, make sure to immediately contact a psychiatrist or psychologist. The goal is to prevent unwanted things from happening and get the best solution to overcome them.
4. How to Prevent Post Holiday Blues
There are several ways you can prevent post holiday blues, namely:
4.1 Make Interesting Vacation Plans
The first way to prevent post holiday blues from appearing is to plan an interesting holiday so that your holiday feels memorable. In every holiday activity, make sure to include rest time so you don't get too tired when you have to go back to work.
4.2 Plan Your Next Vacation
Apart from making interesting holiday plans, you can also prevent post holiday blues by planning your next holiday. Write down which other places or locations you would like to visit. Then, when you go back to work, you're still excited because you have vacation plans to look forward to.
4.3 Document Holiday Moments
Documenting holiday moments in the form of photos or videos will reduce feelings of sadness after the holiday ends. So, make sure you document happy moments while on vacation, okay?
4.4 Save in Advance
To avoid the post holiday blues, make sure you have saved well in advance to use during the holidays. Create a nominal savings target that you will use. Then, once the savings have accumulated, you can use them for a vacation without disturbing your other finances.
That way, after the holidays are over, your finances remain stable without any disruption. As a result, you still feel comfortable and avoid stress and feelings of anxiety.
5. How to Overcome Post Holiday Blues
Apart from knowing how to prevent it, you also have to know how to deal with post holiday blues, namely:
5.1 Rest After Holidays
One of the triggers for post holiday blues is having no time to rest after the holiday ends. Because, most people will return to their homes on the last day of the holiday.
Therefore, so that you have time to rest after vacation, make sure you go home 1-2 days before returning to your activities. Not only that, make sure the house is neat and clean before you leave it. So, you don't need to clean the house and increase your workload when you come home from vacation.
5.2 Establish communication with those closest to you
Try to keep in touch with the people closest to you, for example friends. Contact your closest friends, either in person or via chat and telephone.
You can express your complaints to your friends. Apart from that, also ask how they are and their holiday experiences, OK? So, you not only tell stories about yourself, but you can find out and hear stories from friends. This can help take your mind off the holiday memories you have.
5.3 Light Intensity Exercise
The next way to overcome post holiday blues is to start doing light intensity exercise. This activity can help improve your mood, because the production of happy hormones or endorphins increases when you exercise.
You can start doing light exercise, such as cycling, jogging or yoga, which can reduce stress levels and improve your overall mood.
Apart from that, exercising will help keep your body and mind in a healthy condition. In fact, you can feel energetic and excited about your daily routine again.
So, start scheduling regular exercise every week to help overcome feelings of sadness after the holidays are over.
5.4 Try Something New
After the holidays, you can start trying something new that you've wanted to do for a long time. For example, trying a new recipe that you have saved for a long time or taking a class to improve your skills.
Often feelings of sadness arise because of the lack of motivation that occurs in your life. To overcome this, you can try various new things so that you can remain responsible for your life while making yourself better than before.
5.5 Create a To-Do-List After the Holidays
Usually, people who are susceptible to post-holiday blues are someone who has no purpose after the holiday ends. Therefore, you can start making a to-do-list according to what you want to do.
Of course, planning something, whether it's a big or small plan, will maintain your sense of happiness. So, you are always excited and can't wait to make all your wish lists come true.
5.6 Seek Professional Help
If the symptoms of post-holiday blues continue even though the holiday has long passed, you should immediately seek professional help or a psychiatrist. Of course, talking to a professional will help you get the best solution for the feelings you are feeling.
Avoid harboring these feelings for too long because it will have an impact on your health and daily activities.
5.7 Grateful for the Holiday Experience
Another way to overcome post holiday blues is to make sure you are always grateful for the holiday experience you had. Even though it feels short, you will still get an exciting experience and have unforgettable moments.
Use the holiday experience as motivation to continue working enthusiastically so you can feel the excitement again another time.
5.8 Doing Outdoor Activities
Even though the holidays are over, you don't need to think too much about getting stuck in a monotonous daily routine. Because, if you think like that it will make your mind easily bored and have an impact on work motivation.
Don't worry, you can reduce the monotony by doing various exciting activities outside. Try to eat your favorite food with friends outside or take a walk around the house. That way, your energy will return and keep you enthusiastic when carrying out daily activities.
5.9 Avoiding Things Related to Holidays
The next way to deal with post holiday blues is to avoid everything related to entertainment for a while. For example, avoid watching TV or YouTube content that is related to the holidays.
If necessary, you can avoid places you have visited during your time off. The goal is to reduce the sad feelings that arise from remembering the exciting times of the holidays.
That's the information about post holiday blues that you can read in full. In fact, feeling sad after the holidays end is normal for anyone. However, if this condition continues for a long time, make sure you contact a professional to consult and get appropriate treatment.
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