With the summer holidays coming to an end, the transition from the poolside lounger to the office chair can be a nightmare for some workers. Exotic excursions, laughter and long summer evenings putting the world to rights over a cocktail can seem a long way off when it’s time to get back to work.
But the back-to-school blues aren’t inevitable. BFMTV.com asked several psychologists how to keep the holiday spirit alive once you return home. Here are their tips for keeping the beneficial effects of summer vacation alive for as long as possible.
1. Dive into your memories
The bowl with the name brought directly from Brittany, the T-shirt with the Lisbon logo or the statuette of Mont-Saint-Michel… However kitsch they may seem, souvenirs brought back from our favourite tourist destinations can help to make the “Christmas mourning” a comforting experience.
But you don’t have to rush to the souvenir shops. Photos or videos, a local ingredient or dish, a locally found garment, a piece made by local artisans can all be good ways to take a little piece of this vacation home with you… or to keep one foot in the summer, especially if you bring them straight to the office.
2. Break your routine
There is nothing better than wiping the slate clean of the year that has just ended and starting over again. According to psychologists, returning from vacation is the ideal time to “break the rhythm and habits” and distance yourself from the cumbersome routine of last year. To do this, you have to know how to show “flexibility,” as we do more easily during vacations.
To do this, Pascal Anger recommends making micro-changes in your habits. For example, not eating strictly at the same time every day, allowing yourself to go for a half-hour walk every day before going to bed, or, on the contrary, forcing yourself to get up a little earlier each morning to create a semblance of a new daily routine.
Daring to move towards something new by “getting out of your comfort zone” or “doing unusual things” also allows you to enrich your daily life: “It is at the same time a way of breathing, an escape and a bubble of comfort for oneself,” according to Cindy Perestrelo, a psychologist from Wintzenheim (Haut-Rhin).
3. Integrate Christmas rituals into your daily life
Psychologists also advise against giving up overnight the activities you enjoyed during the holidays, especially since they revive and prolong the pleasure. Whether it’s playlists, game nights, petanque games, walks in the fresh air or even dishes that you only eat on holiday…
If you have developed a passion for drawing, pole dancing, Andalusian cuisine or even diving, it may be a good idea to prolong the pleasure by taking classes upon your return, for example.
According to her, “these are resources that we must take advantage of, because they help us recharge our batteries, maintain a certain distance from our professional activity and the incessant ‘normal’ life that will resume in September.”
This is effective thanks to “cognitive continuity,” according to Emmanuelle Marevery, a graduate engineer in psychology who has worked in the psychology of leisure. She explains that “the brain associates holiday habits with positive emotions” and that “it is therefore easier to relive the pleasant emotions associated with holidays by transposing the activities into everyday life.”
4. Limit your time online
For those nostalgic for summer vacations, Emmanuelle Marevery recommends limiting our screen time, as we already tend to do during our vacations.
She explains that “these are all activities that stimulate the ‘good’ neurotransmitters in the brain.” Endorphin, serotonin, dopamine… all of which help combat stress. To do this, she recommends, for example, using time limiters available on smartphones or in certain applications.
5. Lighten your schedule
To avoid starting too quickly, experts advise reducing your non-essential commitments as much as possible during the first weeks of the school year to avoid mental overload. To this end, sociologist Denis Monneuse, a specialist in occupational health, advises holidaymakers not to return the day before school starts again, at the risk of having difficulty getting back into the swing of things.
On the contrary, taking your time and knowing how to prioritise should be the watchwords for a peaceful return to school. According to Denis Monneuse, “you have to see it as a marathon and not a sprint, so as not to burn out and to maintain the benefits of the holidays for as long as possible” as autumn approaches and the days get shorter.
Emmanuelle Marevery also encourages you to lighten your schedule. She believes that breaks are “essential to allow the brain to rest”, in the sense that they improve concentration and efficiency. Even short micro-breaks can help significantly reduce back-to-school stress.
Source: BFM TV
