The holiday blues

The holiday blues can be experienced by many people and can often feel overwhelming. Getting back into the routine of work, school, and daily life in general can be a source of discomfort as you feel you just can't settle back in. This can often cause feelings of depression and anxiety and being able to recognise some of the signs of PTD, clinically known as post travel depression, may help you to understand some of your feelings.

Some of the symptoms of PTD can range from feelings of nostalgia, that no matter how focused you are on getting back into your routine, you seem fixated on the holiday and how it was. It can also affect your overall mood, making you feel sad and depressed, or even restless. And it can even affect your appetite.

Many of these symptoms can be overcome by re-framing your focus and accepting how the holiday made you feel and how to move on and make the best of everyday life.

Some of the steps you can make to overcome some of the symptoms of PTD can be simple things like accepting that right now you are experiencing some of these feelings and realising that you are not particularly motivated by your current routine. Sometimes it can be helpful to go through the transition of feeling some of these uncomfortable feelings that you may have but at the same time remembering that the holiday meant a great deal to you and it was an experience that you hold fond memories of.

It may help to find the things that really stood out for you on holiday that you'd like to incorporate more of into your daily life. For example it could be that you spent more time going for walks, or that you talked with your partner more than you usually do when at home.

Going away usually gives you more time for fun activities and doing things that you don’t usually do. It may be worth exploring the types of activities that you enjoy and incorporating one’s that you could practise into your regular routine, such as going to a yoga class or signing up for a cookery course.

For some people it can take a while to adjust back to daily life but being able to recognise that you may be experiencing PTD, it is possible and likely that in time you will overcome some of these feelings and be able to adjust back into some of your usual activities without feeling depressed, sad or nostalgic!