How to beat the Sunday-Scaries, post-holiday, Monday or January blues & don’t-wanna-go-back-to-school-itis.

By Laura Campbell

We have all felt it. That post-holiday apprehension about going back to work. Whether this is post-Christmas or summer or after a wedding or weekend away, the fear of going back to work can fill us with dread, worry and fear. Usually, it culminates with fear and agitation on the Sunday before we start back on Monday, giving rise to the urban dictionary term “Sunday Scaries,” or in the January after Christmas, hence “January blues”, but however and whenever you experience it, the anxiety it provokes can make you feel really down. Here are some great tips to help you reduce the worries, survive and thrive and be the happiest version of yourself, on holiday or not.

When we have a holiday, we have the excitement build-up, the change of routine and lots of mental stimulation, even if the holiday doesn't go as well as we expected. Some people love returning back to the comfort of routine post-holiday, and some people love their jobs and long to get back to work, but for those who are apprehensive about going back, it can evoke extreme anxiety. This can manifest in the typical “flight-or-fight” symptoms of anxiety; trouble sleeping on the Sunday, finding it hard to focus, being snappy, impulsive, irritable and judgemental, feeling more emotional and tearful than usual, over or under eating, needing to pee a lot, feelings of impending doom, nausea, hyperactivity and a racing heart. This is caused by the neurotransmitter Adrenaline and hormone Cortisol preparing us to “fight” the thing we fear, in the way our caveman ancestors fought off predators. It can make us feel depressed, upset, alone and hopeless and it can rob us of joy for weeks or months. However, it is possible to fight it, if you take certain tried and tested steps.

Here are my tips on how to survive the Sunday Scaries, post-holiday blues and don’t-wanna-go-back-to-school-itis, and thrive….

1. SLEEP: This is the most essential step. Sleep is essential for emotional regulation, boosting your immune system (your defences against disease) and for helping you feel calm and rational. Anxiety makes it hard to sleep, and so ensure you have a “sleep hygiene” winding down routine. I always find leaving 3 hours between eating and sleeping (eat at 7, sleep at 10/11pm or eat at 8 and sleep at 12 pm), hot baths or showers (which decrease your body temperature, helping you feel relaxed and sleepy), no caffeine after 2 pm, having lots of magnesium-rich foods (such as green leafy vegetables, fish and dark chocolate) and ensuring I get at least 30 minutes activity (which helps Adenosine build-up which promotes sleep) and 30 minutes outdoors (vitamin D from the sun helps regulate Melatonin which helps regulate the circadian rhythm sleep cycle), helps me sleep. Chamomille, Lavender and Valerian containing herbal teas are also very soothing and Peppermint teas help aid digestion after a meal, aiding sleep. Also having a “cold-cave” for my caveman brain really helps. This involves having a cold, dark and quiet room (use an eye mask and earplugs if you live in a noisy busy area or with housemates on the nightshift). It is essential that you try and get back into a sleep routine as soon as possible post-holiday, waking up and going to bed at the same time each day and night and avoid naps during the day if you can (as these reduce the build up of Adenosine, reducing sleep pressure). Yoga and gentle stretching and calm music before bed can also really help you sleep.
2. Don’t undereat or overeat: A lack of food can evoke a sugar low which can make you hungry-angry or hangry, and increase the fearful feelings linked to fears of going back to work. Also watch caffeine, which increases anxiety, and watch sugar levels, as too much sugar can evoke “sugar-lows” which can worsen the symptoms of anxiety. Recognise that at Christmas or on holiday you will have consumed a lot of sugary food and so will already be on a bit of a sugar low, and so consume lots of fruit sugars to gradually ween yourself off sugar (sugar is as addictive as cocaine) without withdrawal symptoms. Drink alcohol in moderation as it is a depressive and steals energy and so can worsen feelings of lethargy, steal vitality and exacerbate a low mood.
3. Plan the next holiday: Recognise that just like after the sun comes the rain, after the rain comes the sun and that if each day was a holiday, it would lose all appeal. If Christmas and such celebrations or summer was everyday it wouldn’t be special and we wouldn’t enjoy it as much. The best way to stay positive after a holiday or throughout January is to have something to look forward to and so plan your next holiday and have it in the diary (even if it is a year away) as something hopeful and exciting to plan and get ready for.
4. Gratitude: Write thank-you cards for the gifts you received at Christmas or to the host of your holiday, or print off holiday snaps or put up a positive social media holiday memory post and recount the good moments, to evoke positive emotions in your brain and increase Serotonin and Oxytocin neurotransmitters, which help to regulate Cortisol and calm you. Write a gratitude list for all the things you are grateful for in your life and remember that you are lucky to have a job, even if you are fearful about returning to it and recount all the benefits the job allows you. Remember it pays for the next holiday! Bring yourself into the present by mindfully coming aware of your senses; what can you smell, hear, touch, feel, taste and write down all the pleasant things around you that you are grateful for.
5. Trust yourself: If you are worried about failure when you go back with “I am the worst teacher in the world,” or “my boss will fire me as I won’t meet my targets,” recognise if you are catastrophising and disqualifying all the positives with negative filters (cognitive distortions common in anxiety). Recognise that this is normal in anxiety as our Amygdala emotional brain when anxious is trying to protect us like a security guard, and so focuses on the negatives based on our worst memories (from the Hippocampus in our brain) so we are prepared for this and can defend ourselves against it. Again it is our caveman brain scanning for threats and defending us against it. It downregulates our rational prefrontal cortex brain in order to do this. Recognise and accept that you may not be thinking logically when anxious and apprehensive and trust yourself. You have managed and survived before and succeeded in the past before and so it is possible to do this again. Tell yourself, “I got this,” and “I will survive, tomorrow will come and I will be fine. I have faced challenges before and overcome them and I will survive again. I can do this.”
6. Prepare: If you are worried about going back, do what you can to make it as stressfree as possible. Plan your route to work, pre-plan your meals and lay out your clothes and have your lesson plans or sales report plans ready and so you minimise stress when you arrive and give yourself emotional mental space to cope with change, without additional pressures and stresses on top like being late or unprepared.
7. Be kind to yourself: The first week after going back after the holidays is always horrible as you adapt to change and miss family and the excitement and buzz of a holiday. With time, you get back into the rhythm of it and things become much easier. Try to make the first week or two as relaxing as possible. Have hot-baths, listen to calming music and do yoga and try to get as much exercise as possible. Exercise releases Endorphin brain chemical which reduces pain and evokes euphoria, making you happier. If you don’t have time for the gym or a run, go for simple walks in nature when you can (even if just a dog walk, walk around the block once in your lunch break or walk to school) or take the stairs in the office or cycle to work. Exercise is a powerful anti-anxiety treatment, especially if it is outdoors (as vitamin D boosts Serotonin and is essential in the dark winter months such as with January blues in preventing help prevent seasonal affective disorder, SAD). Also, try to see people or pets, as hugs, kisses, pet stroking or team sports and volunteer work where you help others, and complimenting others, produces brain Oxytocin neuropeptide, which evokes trust, emotional warmth and psychological stability.
8. Schedule in fun things, no matter how small: Book an exercise class for the first week or have a food take-out on Friday night or cook a nice cheap (if broke post-holidays) meal for you and a friend or bake something sweet and delicious. Cooking a recipe and following ingredients lists is a great anxiety hack as it focuses you on the present (the antithesis of anxiety which makes you agonise about the past or apprehensive about the future), mindfully switching your brain from “flight-or-fight” anxiety mode (sympathetic nervous system) to “rest-and-digest” relaxation mode (parasympathetic nervous system). Having small lovely things scheduled into the diary can really cheer you up as they boost Serotonin (happiness brain chemical) and Dopamine (pleasure brain chemical). A delicious meal on a cold, dark, winter month can make life so much more appetizing (without comfort eating and feeding feelings). Start watching a new tv series with an episode at the same time each week as the rhythm and routine of this, gives you something to look forward to each week. Ensure that you have something lovely each day. Even if this is just a special teabag in your tea or a special colourful shirt you wear to the office, or even wearing the necklace you got from someone you love for Christmas or a momentum you picked up on holiday, small things can really cheer you up, especially if they are a reminder of a positive memory.
9. Ensure you reconnect with colleagues on the first day: My biggest recommendation is to ensure you have a team meeting first thing on the first day back, or see all your friends at school or university or your fellow teachers in the staffroom and reconnect. A work or studying environment is so much better if you feel part of a team or community. Even if it is your first day or you’re in a big corporate or are a freelancer and don’t know the team, the first-day social interaction and sense of community catch-up triggers Oxytocin neuropeptide in the brain, which triggers “tribe mentality” in the brain and can help you feel more comfortable and relaxed at work.
10. Take it breath by breath: Anxiety makes you obsess and regret about things in the past or worry apprehensively and obsessively about things in the future. Remember that you cannot change the past and the future is a mystery and that all worry does is steal joy from the present. Live for what today has on offer, not for what yesterday has taken away. Focus on the present. If you don’t enjoy your job, breathe as excessive rumination on all the problems, won’t fix them, only logical action will, and so try to problem solve and find a rational solution to your situation and take the necessary steps in the present to action positive change in your life. Live life day by day, hour by hour, breath by breath. You got this. You will survive Monday and before you know it it will be Friday and the weekend again, as this is life, peaks and troughs and it is the ups and downs of life that make the ups even sweeter. Surf the waves and just keep swimming on. You can do it.

Whatever you do. Don’t give up. Talk to someone if you are feeling low and recognise that how you are feeling is normal and that you can cope with this. Using food, alcohol, drugs, social isolation, sleep, sex or self-harm as a coping mechanism will just make things worse. Focus on healthy coping mechanisms like healthy food, exercise, loving and trusting relationships, reading, relaxing, sleep, nature and hobbies and community and before you know it, it will be holiday time again. After the sun the rain, the rain the sun and in the meantime, enjoy the rainbows!

COPYRIGHT LAURA CAMPBELL 05/01/2020