Beating the Back-to-Work Blues

When you’ve had a fantastic holiday getting back to the grind can be an uphill struggle. Out of the swing and feeling the blues; the piles of paperwork, looming deadlines and disorganised team can make you question whether leaving in the first place was worth it at all! When the soothing sounds of lapping waves are replaced by the dreary droning of the office manager, how are you going to cope? We’ve got the top tips to help you return from your trip totally sane and ready to face the day.

1. Prepare to prepare
You may have booked on lastminute.com but organising your return to work should be anything but. Before you embark, think your trip through from start to end – the very end. Leave yourself enough time to catch up on sleep, unpack and prepare for your first day back to the office. You want to be able to ease back into your routine. Don’t forget little things like making time to restock the fridge, pick up the dry cleaning, fill up with petrol or renew your travel card. Frantically sorting everything out at 6am on Monday morning will really ruin your post-holiday groove.

2. It doesn’t have to be over.
Remembering the best bits of your holiday in a healthy way can help you to adjust. Think about changing your desktop background to a holiday snap: freshen up your outlook and boot up your day with a smile. Sharing your experiences with others in the workplace is also a great idea. Re-establishing colleague relationships and sharing your holiday gossip can help you to reminisce whilst settling back in smoothly: bringing that happy holiday feeling to your place of work. You could also convert some of that new nervous energy you might be feeling of into cultivating something you learnt whilst away: Spanish verbs, Thai cooking or maybe a new yoga plan.

3. Email vigilante
Handling your emails wisely as you arrive back to work might be the key to a peaceful return. Don’t be too eager to turn off your out-of-office replies. By replying selectively when it’s truly urgent you can keep on top of it all and buy yourself a little extra time to recuperate. Experts also suggest creating a designated folder within which to store (and not read) the emails that you received whilst away: starting back with a fresh inbox and boosted morale. There’s a danger of trawling through already-solved problems for hours on end and putting yourself behind further than you already are. People will chase you if they really need to: especially if they received an out-of-office reply in the last week or two. If you know that you need to go through each email individually, set aside some time and don’t take on new work whilst doing so.

4. Plan another holiday.
Let’s face it: it was worth going. And now it’s time to set your sights and your hopes on the next one.