When you go on a holiday do you come home feeling refreshed and ready to take on the rest of the year? Or do you totally let go of your routines and settle into the holiday lifestyle only to return and suffer from the dreaded Post Holiday Blues (PHB)?
I've always suffered from PHB, But not this time!
The real truth is that you shouldn't feel the need to escape from your life, holidays are highly important, but shouldn't be the only thing you live for. I believe the aim should be to find a job you love and build a routine that works even when you're on holiday.
We get PHB when we shut down our routines and fall 100% into holiday mode. We fill our days with A LOT of nothing, and our nights with minimal sleep, we fuel ourselves with food we barely benefit from and we definitely don't intentionally exercise! When we are forced to return and get back into routine, we suffer. We go through so much pain to reset our bodies and slave into work life again.. this just restarts the cycle and we become so blue that our only motivation to get back to work again is to save for the next holiday..
I'm sure I am not the first one to say this but... This is no way to live!
Most people reading this would know that I recently went on a month long holiday to Adelaide, South Australia. Being away for a month taught me a lot about myself. It taught me that the routines I spent the last two years creating, are so beneficial. While I was away I became homesick for not just the people, but also my workplace and my normal routines. I missed working, after working non stop for 2 years, having a month off felt INSANE!
It was so foreign for me to miss work, I have always worked, and I haven't really ever hated any of my jobs. I usually felt so relieved to have some time off, and always had that work dread when it came time to go home.
The main benefit of working a job you love is NO WORK DREAD!
As much as I loved being away, I also loved finding my way back to work again!
How do you fight Post Holiday Blues?
What's something you always do while you're away?
Do you have something from home you always take on holiday with you?
I guess what I'm saying in all this is to escape the PHB, Create a lifestyle that you don't need to escape from, Build a routine that you don't want to leave behind when you go away for a week, and just live.
love,
liz x