I always find October a difficult month. The hope of an Indian summer has usually been unfulfilled, the once beautiful autumn leaves have turned to slippery leaf-dust and mulch, and now winter is well on its way. The post-holiday blues begin to set in. Being a therapist doesn’t mean I am always optimistic and positive about everything, but it does mean that I am aware of where work is needed. For me, October is a month where work is needed!
As this has been a lifelong phenomenon for me, I am becoming better equipped to manage my post-holiday grumpiness. Dare I say, I’m now able to see the bright side! Being a therapist has, without a shadow of a doubt, played a huge role in this. In this blog, I will be sharing some of my go-tos that help boost my mood and beat the post-holiday blues.
What are the Post-Holiday Blues?
Post-holiday blues are the experience of disappointment, sadness or flatness after a holiday period. For many of us, there are two points of the year where we may be most likely to feel this. The first is at the end of summer. We may have gone away on holiday, or taken time off to enjoy the longer, brighter days locally. As the seasons change, for those of less embracing of the cold and dark, we can long for the sunshine and the energy this brings us. The second point is January, after the end of the Christmas season. After a break from work and a period of festivities with friends and family, January often feels like a long and challenging month getting back to the grind.
Over this side of the world, both of these periods described coincide with winter. It’s important to highlight that prolonged feelings of low mood may be a sign of the Winter Blues, or Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is a clinically recognised condition. It’s also worth mentioning that the post-holiday blues may be experienced at other times of the year too. You may go travelling or enjoy time off at any other point in the year and experience a shift in mood on your return to normality. I’m focusing on the winter periods as these tend to be times many of us can collectively relate to.
How to Manage Post-Holiday Blues
There isn’t a huge amount of research into Post-Holiday Blues and so this blog is less clinical, and more of a personal reflection. Rather than citing the research into the proven strategies that help, I’m choosing to share the things that I have found personally helpful. Instead of focusing on clinical presentations of depression, I’m focusing on those short-lived feelings of general flatness and apathy.
Plan Things to Look Forward to
This may sound so obvious but I’m starting here because just because something is obvious, it doesn’t mean we do it. If post-holiday blues are the come-down after a period of enjoyment, then it makes sense to have enjoyable things to look forward to to get back over the come-down. I find the key to this is planning things in advance.
After the summer, I find people are often busy settling back into their normal life routines. After a period of indulgence over Christmas, people are often watching their spending in January. It’s harder to make plans at the time I most want them in place, so I know now to get people booked into my diary in advance! Later this month, I’ll be enjoying a taster menu at a fancy restaurant with friends. We booked this at least two months in advance.
Building a Self-Care Routine
The thing I find hardest about both of the post-holiday blues windows is the cold and dark. So my self-care routines centre around all things that make me feel warm and bring brightness into my day.
Brightness Boosters
I love the colour yellow. You may have noticed. From October, flowers in various shades of yellow become a feature at home. It’s become a tradition. I love the process of choosing these, pruning them, and taking care of them. My record for keeping flowers fresh and happy is two weeks. This gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment. Can you see how this is so much more than enjoying looking at pretty flowers? It’s become a whole process that provides extended enjoyment beyond the more obvious beauty of a flower arrangement.
Winter Warmers
Cold feet are an absolute hard no for me. For the past few years, I’ve made a ritual of treating myself to bright, fun socks. I usually do this in the summer sales before the Christmas socks take over the shelves – back to planning again! This year’s collection features an octopus, a snail, a parrot and a hedgehog. When my work is serious and the skies are dark, novelty socks are an easy way to bring a bit of lightness, as well as warmth, into my day.
Those of you who know me or work with me may have also noticed I have quite a large collection of brightly coloured knitwear. When I was seeing a back specialist for a long period, he commented that he could always tell when my pain was bad because I would turn up in black! It’s not a colour you’ll see me in very often.
Cosy Comforts
Massage oils rather than moisturisers are a switch-up I like to make in the winter months. They feel richer, more indulgent, and I love breathing in the smell of essential oils after a hot bath or shower. I treat myself to a good quality hot chocolate or herbal tea in the evenings and I make more effort to use nice hand creams before bed. As I write this, I see that my cosy comforts are all around soothing and sipping. That gentle movement of moisturising, and the savouring of a hot drink. It’s all about slowing down, taking time to breath in the aromas and let out a nice, slow exhale.
Making Your own Plan to Beat the Post-Holiday Blues
Self-care is individual. We all have different ideas of what is enjoyable, uplifting and energising. You may love or hate the things I’ve shared. That’s OK. The point is to think about things that make you feel good and are positive for your wellbeing, and find ways to build these things into your routine – ideally in advance. They don’t need to be events. Little and often goes a long well. Try to create a mix of things you can enjoy with others as well as independently. This way you build a collection of little things that you can look forward to, and that bring you little pockets of positivity in your day to day.
Closing Thoughts
Taking care of our mental health and wellbeing doesn’t need to be complicated. And we don’t need to be struggling with our mental health to be proactive in taking care of it. The things I’ve shared in this blog aren’t clinical, psychological strategies. They are simple practices that I know through experience have a positive effect on my sense of wellbeing. It can be easy to overcomplicate things.
If you are a high achiever, have perfectionist tendencies or struggle with low self-esteem, you may put excessive pressure on yourself to do things ‘right.’ Overthinking and overanalysing what to do may get in the way of you doing anything at all. If this sounds like you, try committing to taking one small step today to do something positive for your wellbeing and take it from there.
What Next?
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