Those Old Holiday Blues

It is that time of year when most of us will be returning from our summer breaks and after the holiday glow has left us we generally land with a bit of a bump. After which we normally manage to pull ourselves back together, force ourselves to get on with things and take up our lives where we left off.

What I would like to investigate a bit, if I may, is why is there this bump when we return from holiday? It is called the holiday blues, a time of readapting and settling back in to our lives but why can it sometimes feel so intense? Is it because while we were away we were without pressure and could schedule our days as we wanted? Was it the change of scene? Was it not getting up for work? Was it a break from the usual routine?

It’s really useful to try and identify what it precisely was that we enjoyed so much when we were away and make an effort to incorporate some of that into our everyday lives here at home. What generally happens when we go away is that we have a break from our usual routine, do new things, go out more, explore more and generally get to do more of the good stuff. This is often in sharp contrast to our home life which is normally experienced as a repetition of closely adhered to and well established routines.

We are creatures of habit and this can lead to living a life of good old established routine which only gets a shake up when we go away. Returning from being away with a fresh outlook on things is the perfect opportunity to look at our everyday life and start to make inroads to bring in some of the good stuff. Did you really enjoy going out to new restaurants when you were away? How about joining a dinner club here or make a point to regularly try new places to eat. Did you enjoy being more physically active while away, if so incorporate fun exercise into your everyday and discover new activities. Was it the exploring that you particularly thrived on? So how about thinking up ways to express the explorer spirit while at home. I’m thinking make a choice to do something every weekend that takes you how ever slightly out of your comfort zone.

Investing time in thinking about ways to incorporate what you loved while you were away into your everyday life is time well spent. To challenge our daily routines, that become our weekly, monthly and yearly routines is the key to living a more fulfilling life.This is also a beautiful way of becoming proactive in our life, making decisions about how we want things to be instead of simply slipping back into old well worn habits. Coming back from being away presents the opportunity to take charge and start to choose the life you wish to live instead of reverting into an automated, routine filled existence.

Don’t wait until your next holiday before you can enjoy yourself again, take what you loved about your time away and find creative and innovative ways to create those feelings and sensations in your everyday life. Not only will this boost your overall enjoyment and satisfaction but also it will mean that any future holiday returns will only be of the very lightest shade of blue.