5 Tips to Ease You Out of the Holidays and Back to Work

The Holidays are great as they give us time to catch up with family, friends and of course, our beauty sleep. They present an opportunity for rejuvenation, centering and some good old fashioned weight gain if done right. By the time you’re getting to January, every day feels like a Friday and you honestly may even have trouble remembering what day it is. Don’t fight it. Enjoy every moment. You’ve been working hard all year and deserve some time to let loose.

When January does arrive, it can be stressful as it feels like being startled out of a wonderful dream into a less than ideal reality. A lot of people go through January in a daze as they struggle to get back into routine and deal with any additional stresses the New Year brings. This leads to January basically being a wasted month as most of it is spent coping when it should really be used as a time to set the tone for the rest of the year. Here are 5 tips to ease you out of the holidays and back to work.

1. Get organized
There’s no easier way to do this than actually doing it. Write down the things that you must absolutely get done in January and do them. This will probably include any work related matters that need to be followed up on in January and any other responsibilities that you have to follow through on. The earlier in the month this is done, the better. I’d recommend making use of your diary here. If you don’t have one, get one. Also, make sure you have your laundry done and folded or ironed. This is not the time to be rummaging through your closet in the morning looking for your white shirt.

2. Prioritize Spending
You’ve probably spent more than you should have over the holidays and now you’ve got a less than ideal bank balance. It is what it is. For future reference, you should have a spending plan that you actually follow over the holidays. But let’s focus on now. Money issues are stressful and to avoid this, pay your essential bills first thing. Rent, water and electricity bills, school fees and shopping for food items should be done in the first week of January to avoid unnecessary stress.

3. Resume your routine
It’ll be difficult at first especially if you’ve gotten used to waking up at noon and eating junk all day. Your body has to get back to waking up at 5am and consuming a healthy (okay, relatively healthier) diet. Go easy on yourself as you get back into routine. Start by focusing on waking up and getting to work on time in the first week and then gradually add in any strenuous activities to your morning routine like working out, especially if you’d stopped altogether over the holidays. The last thing you want to do is overwhelm yourself.

4. Take it easy on the workload
Give yourself a day or two or even a week to readjust before you start burning the midnight oil. Pace yourself by prioritizing your work load as well as keeping your meetings to a minimum. Don’t take on too much when you know you can’t give your absolute best.

5. Take up a new interesting project or hobby
The difficulty with readjusting after the holidays comes from the realization that your everyday life may be a little duller than you thought. Getting back into it can be difficult because you now have all these new wonderful experiences (especially if your holiday included a trip out of town) you’d rather be experiencing than sitting at your work desk. A way to take your mind off of this is to take up an interesting project at work or a hobby that you’ve always wanted to start. Start taking guitar lessons, take up bartending lessons or join a road trip group. Simply inject something new and interesting to look forward to in the New Year.

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