Dec 12
31
The holidays are over and you’re off to a great start. You feel well rested and ready for anything work throws at you. You head on over to the office, but once you are faced with all the work you have to do, you suddenly feel like going back to the holidays. All your energy is drained out of you, doing work being the last thing on your mind. If you feel this way, perhaps you have a holiday hangover. Other times, a holiday hangover might not start with a giddy attitude for work. You might not feel like going back to work at all.
A holiday hangover is not something you’d want to happen, especially at the start of the year. No worries, though. It can be remedied, just like a real hangover where a bowl of hot soup can do the trick. This article will talk about having a holiday hangover and how to deal with it.
Why You Feel This Way
Now why does one have a holiday hangover? The following are three reasons I came up with after experiencing several holiday hangovers myself. All these may apply to you or one of the other.
Due to the prospect of working on a mountain of tasks in the office – When the holidays ended, I didn’t have an ounce of energy for work. I didn’t feel like going to work at all and that was mainly because I had lots of work to do. 
In your case, it may be leftover work from the previous year or tasks that you often do at the start of the year. The beginning of the year is a time for companies to conduct meetings, plan, and brainstorm for the company’s future. Hence, it’s no surprise that there’s lots of work to do and it’s going to be a busy time for you.
You want the rest to continue, you feel you haven’t had enough rest yet – One of the reasons why we look forward to the holidays is rest. The Christmas holiday is not just a time to be with family and the people you love, but also a time to relax, unwind, and regain the energy you’ve lost from working all year round. Now, there are times when we don’t get the rest that we imagined we’d experience this holiday season. As a result, we end up with a desire to extend the holiday a bit more and get the rest that we deserve.
You’ve become acquainted to doing nothing for several days – This feeling is perhaps similar to when you were still in school and you had a summer break. When school starts, you procrastinate and refuse to do anything, because you’re mind and body has become accustomed to doing nothing for several days. In the case of this recent holiday, it may not have been as long, but you can still get the same feeling. Perhaps, this may be due to over resting and maybe even over eating.
What Should You Do?
At this point, you’ve probably figured out why you’re feeling like you have a holiday hangover. What now? You’re next step is to find a way to deal with it and then take that step to action so that you can become fired up for work again.
Based on the reasons mentioned above, here are some things that you could do to deal with this hangover.
Get some exercise
Yes, you did some activities during the break, but you did eat lots and sleep lots, too. Hence, you need to get moving and pump yourself with lots of energy. In order to get out of your lazy aura, do something active. Exercise. Go for a run, swim, jog, or brisk walk. Just get up and go. Get those muscles moving. Additionally, you could burn off all the calories you gained by allowing yourself to be active.
Sleep right
During the holidays, you probably spent a lot of time staying up late at night or sleeping in irregular patterns. Now that your holiday break is over, try to get back to your normal sleeping habit. That means to sleep at the proper time during the night and wake up at the appropriate time in the morning as well; as much as possible, sleep for at least 7 to 8 hours every night.
Eat Healthy and Refreshing
One of the things that can improve your mood is what you eat. This is the time to bring out the healthy shakes and salads. Try to get back to your normal diet, as during the holidays, you probably consumed a hefty sum of carbs from your traditional feasts. In addition to getting back to your normal diet, eat more fiber rich foods so that you’ll flush out those unnecessary carbs. You could also drink tea.
Get some sunshine
Another method that you can try is to get out and get some sun. I don’t mean you should get tanned, but just get out of the house and be under the sun for a while. While you’re doing that, you can take a walk or stroll around a park. The best time to do this is when the sun isn’t too hot yet. That means it would be sometime in the morning and in the afternoon when the sun isn’t too hot. Doing so will expose you to some good old Vitamin D. This will invigorate you, you’ll be refreshed, and it might just lift your mood.
Taking Action
The methods I mentioned are basically ways to lift up your mood and pump you with energy. Now that you know some methods to let you sober up, all you have to do is choose one, two, or all of them and make a plan of action.
Making a plan of action in order to get over a holiday hangover is quite easy. You don’t have to plan out a whole month’s worth of this as at most, a few days to a week will do. In your plan, all you need is to figure out what to do at what time and you’re all set. To gain more insight on planning, you should go to the article “Planning – The Day to Day”.
When did you realize you had a holiday hangover? Share your comments in the box below.
About Jorge Blanco
Personal Development Junkie. Expert on Goal Setting, Time, Project, and Life Management. Master Strategist and Planner. Passionate Entrepreneur.
Author of Design Your Life: 5 Steps To Create The Life You Want, a complete guide to making a positive change in your life, and living a life by design. Now available on the Kindle Store
