How to plan the return to the routine after the holidays?

Holidays, although they are an essential element in the life of any working person, also go hand in hand with possible problems that we must be aware of. For example, the discomfort that arises when we land on the first day back at work without having psychologically prepared for it, an experience that significantly affects many people.

It is clear that as human beings we do not have absolute control over our emotions or our processes. internal psychological in general, but it is also true that if we prepare ourselves with the necessary time, we can arrive to reduce the chances that the return to work days will destabilize us or make us feel overwhelmed. Let's see how to achieve it.

• Related article: "Why is it important to have vacations to disconnect?"

Tips for planning a return to routine after the holidays

When it comes to psychologically readjusting before going back to work, it is important not to improvise by dealing with the situation right after the end of the holidays. That is it is best to plan from the first days of that vacation break

, so that the "clash" between one situation and the other is not so strong due to the contrasts. Although this does not have to imply a great effort (after all, vacations are for resting and getting rid of part of our daily obligations), it is advisable to adopt certain simple strategies to prepare our lap.

How to do it? Keep these tips in mind to plan the return to the routine.

1. Do not neglect your sleep schedule

It is very important to properly regulate your biorhythms without letting the holidays disrupt your sleep schedule. That means not going to bed very late in the days before returning to the work routine. And if we have been getting up and waking up at unusual times of the day for some time, we must try to gradually return to the normal schedule, although this makes us feel a little less rested for a couple of days (that will be better than arriving at the first day of work without having slept barely).

• You may be interested in: "Circadian rhythms: what are they and in what biological functions are they involved"

2. If you are going to travel, do not come back on the last day off

In the event that you have a relatively long vacation period and travel to another region or country, it is recommended that you do not return to your place of residence on the last day of vacation; it is better that in any case you do it a day or two before the end.

In this way, the experience of psychologically "fitting in" with your city and with the places you usually go to in it will be less shocking. It must be taken into account that during the vacation break your brain has weakened the memories related to the small details of your day to day (for example, where to find certain objects in your house), and although individually these small cluelessness or reasons to be disoriented affect us little, if they all reach us at the same time, it can be stressful.

On the other hand, creating a buffer of time between the trip and the return to the workplace is also a way to enter the mentality of orientation towards work objectives. before having to attend to them immediately, something that helps to progressively motivate themselves without associating these concepts with the discomfort of not being ready to start working already.

• Related article: "Time management: 13 tips to make the most of the hours of the day"

3. Readjust your hobbies and hobbies to give them continuity after the holidays

Try that your new lifestyle after the return to the routine continues to have "gaps" for several daily or weekly moments that you can dedicate to what you like and what you have dedicated the most to during the holidays. In this way, there will not be so much difference between those days of vacation break and the days of work.

4. Prepare at least the tasks to be done during the first week

Another way to cushion the return to the routine is to create an agenda detailing the sequence of actions that we will carry out during the first morning of the first day. It is something that does not take much time or much effort, and in this way you will face the first hours knowing at all times what to spend the next few minutes, something key to focus on specific objectives and not be intimidated by the apparent mountain of tasks before us.

• You may be interested in: "Psychology of work and organizations: a profession with a future"

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In Awakenings Psychologists We serve people of all ages and we can help you at any of our centers located in Madrid, Leganés Getafe, or Móstoles.