It’s always great when you go on holiday but going back to work can be (very) difficult.
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‘It’s quite common to experience the end-of-holiday-blues, it affects one in three people’, says psychologist Matthieu Poirot on the radio channel Europe 1.
If you are one of these people who gets depressed when they go back to work, here is a few pieces of advice to help you get through this tough time.
A necessary transition phase
First of all, give yourself a transition phase. Suddenly going from being on the beach one day to sitting at your desk the next is brutal. Give yourself two or three days to get back into the swing of things in your everyday life before going back to work. During this time, you can take a few baths and go through and respond to your mail.
Prolong your holiday bliss and keep a few of those nice habits going. Have an aperitif or binge watch the TV on an evening for example. Just watch that you don’t abuse it too much, or you’ll soon be as tired as you were before you went on holiday. To keep feeling good for longer, why not try putting up your holiday photos around the house so you can see them more often.
After going on holiday… plan another!
If you’re sad that your holiday has ended, start planning your next one! Try not to go into too much detail about it, but you can still start thinking about your next destination and a date that would be appropriate.
Finally, you have to just accept the ugly truth… you have to go back to work, to the difficult and unpleasant tasks.
‘By focusing on the most daunting tasks, you put yourself in a better position. If you don’t, your job will become harder and harder and your brain will start to believe that the more work you do, the more difficult it will become,’ explains the psychologist to Europe 1.
