Maintaining your zen 7 tips to beat the back at work blues

By Natasha Parrant

Many people may be wondering if they can maintain their holiday zen for a longer period of time; well, it’s possible.

A couple of psychologists discuss what’s happening and how people can slow down the feeling of being in holiday mode, so people can feel calm and collected for longer.

Psychology Today’s ‘Seven Tips to Beat the Post-Holiday Blues’ article was written by Doctor of Psychology Margaret Wehrenberg - who specialises in depression management techniques – suggesting why people get postholiday blues and how to overcome them. She says going back to work feels like a sudden let-down because people have to adjust their routines. They can feel empty, alone and/or depressed. One way to open a system of memory is by feeling emotion.

Why is this?

People’s brains use mood/emotion as the entrance into a system of other similar thoughts, feelings and moods. The brain stores memories in systems that connect to related events or types of information.

“A specific emotion opens the network that holds memories of other times when you felt that same feeling,” Margaret wrote.

When listening to music, someone may feel all sorts of emotions flowing through, which can connect to different memories or thoughts.

How can people move forward?

“In the case of the post-holiday blues network, knowing what the mood is about - makes it much easier to escape,” Margaret wrote.

People may have come back from the holidays feeling a sense of loss and even if their holiday was stressful, they are most likely to have had a lot of activities involved, which keeps the brain feeling stimulated.

Once the holidays are over the post-holiday blues can occur.

“Loss feels very much like depression and depression makes it harder to get out of that network.”

However, if people can define the sense of loss, they can find a way to feel happier again. The feeling of loss just means less stimulation, she says. For instance, people can feel empty when a holiday is coming to an end, even if they are happy to be home.

Margaret’s suggestions to overcome the post-holiday blues

1. Talk to someone verbally rather than over text.

2. Go out of the house and get fresh air.

3. Re-read greeting cards or old emails from friends and family over the years.

4. Do some exercise.

5. Look forward not backward –people can think about something or things they’d like to make happen this year.

6. Cook.

7. Distract yourself from holiday mode –people can watch TV or do something that isn’t going to remind them of what they did on holiday.

“Then — suddenly — it’s over. It’s done. Overnight, you lose the sense of excitement, you lose the activities filling your time and you lose the involvement with other people. The highly anticipated moments are done,” Margaret notes.

To conclude, Margaret says people should control their mood by keeping themselves busy and stimulated to remove the “negative network of loss and get out of the post-holiday blues.”

Waitaha Primary Health’s primary mental health manager, Paul Wynands, endorses the strategies Margaret suggests.

He also shares his thoughts and says people are in holiday mode when they’re on holiday but when they go back to work it’s not the same feeling. People can’t go back to the beach, so then they’re back to a system where they have “demand expectations”.

“The brain likes to go back to memories we like to remember, now it’s at a loss once we go back into a regular 9-5 work routine.”

Paul says this state of loss is normal because when people come from a high level of freedom to then being confined to a certain routine, it’s different and is “a sense of loss of what we had”.

“Post-holiday blues is normal, as we have moved from a holiday place of freedom to choose how we spend our time. It hopefully has been a time of great memories with family, friends and having new experiences.

“In contrast, being back at work might be ‘ground-hog day’ for some and people might feel resentful of the constraints work puts on our time and freedom, compared to being on holiday.

“We could also be returning refreshed from a holiday but become quickly deflated as we face the same workplace with its unchanging issues, politics and demands.

“It takes a while for our brains to adjust to work routine again, so the key message is to look after yourself and involve yourself in activities that provided you with that holiday ‘feel-good’ factor.” CT