Do You Feel Down After the Holidays? Let’s Talk.
Written By Irene Eastland, LCMHC
Many people enjoy the holidays, for a variety of reasons. Some enjoy seeing family and friends, and others are excited about their time away from their workplace. While others may just enjoy the spirit of the season. Regardless of the reason for enjoying holidays, the main theme here is - those of us reading this, probably enjoy/enjoyed the holidays! But… when they’re over, we aren’t so happy anymore, at least not right away. We may even get into a slump, a slump many have started to call “post-holiday blues”.
It’s not depression, it’s a form of sadness, yet not clinically termed as depression. If you’ve ever heard of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) (if you haven’t, stick around and we will have an article on it in the future!), it’s a period of time where someone may experience a drop in their mood as the days get darker earlier. Once the days begin to get lighter, or the weather improves, their mood does as well. That’s how we will think about the post-holiday blues as well. It happens for a period of time, but is not long-lasting or a chemical imbalance like depression can be. Before we talk about feeling down after the holidays, let’s talk about the build up that leads to this “downfall” after the holidays end.
Why do I feel so down after the holidays?
It’s important to understand that the anticipation of the holidays can create a rush of dopamine. In fact, most things are more exciting before they happen. Ever notice the rush of adrenaline you have when you’re doing something new? Or thinking about going on vacation? Yet, when you’re there it’s kind of “meh” sometimes? Sometimes it’s as good as you pictured it being, and other times, it’s not what you pictured at all or it falls somewhere in between. The same applies the your experience of the “build” to Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, or any holiday you celebrate. The anticipation of that event gets your dopamine (the happy chemical) flowing, and can lead to a dramatic drop in dopamine levels once the experience/event is over.
This drop of dopamine, or the leveling off of dopamine, can create “post holiday blues”. Of course, this can apply to anything you’ve anticipated for a while and then afterwards you’re uncertain of how you feel and confused as to why you’re not as “happy” as you pictured yourself being after the event. With the holidays, some people enjoy giving gifts, seeing family, or having good food. These events are all dopamine encouraging activities, and once they’re over, your brain knows that it’s not going to be like that every single day (huge bummer!). This results in feeling down after the holidays are over. So, what can you do about this? How can you “feel good” throughout the year and not just during holidays or big events?
How to “feel good” after the holidays
Start with the end in mind. Even if you didn’t get a chance to do this during the past holiday season, you can save this information for next holiday season, or any big event you have coming up like a vacation or family gathering. With the end in mind, you can look at a few things:
How have I felt post-holidays in the past?
How long do these feelings usually last?
What am I thinking about leading up to the holidays?
What am I looking forward to during the holidays?
By answering these questions, you’re getting ahead of the drop in dopamine. This won’t stop you from feeling giddy or excited about the holidays, but you’ll be able to understand that once the days are over, you will need to do something to help re-energize yourself and bring yourself out of those post holiday blues.
Once you’ve answered those questions, let’s take a look at some strategies you can use to help yourself once the holidays are over.
Tips for managing post-holiday blues
One method, of course I stand behind this 100%, is attending therapy. Attending therapy for a short-time, say 4 to 6 weeks after the holidays can help you build skills to keep yourself resilient throughout the rest of the year, and to help you stay mindful of how you’re feeling. By talking with someone, you may find that the post-holiday blues are quicker to dissipate, allowing you to feel like your usual self and keep enjoying your every day life. You may also find in therapy that you have some things you might want to work on. Some come to therapy for anxiety, and come to realize they are also struggling with anger or resentment, by addressing these concerns, you can mitigate future mental health struggles.
The second method would be to learn mindfulness strategies. This could look like deep breathing, learning to use grounding techniques, and you can even use our article on 3 easy to use coping skills. Taking time to look around in the here and now, and enjoy the little things in your life can dramatically improve your overall mood and help you feel less down about the end of the holiday season. By doing this, you free up your mental space to be able to focus on the future and what you have in store for the next year.
Additionally, practicing gratitude is the simplest way to improve your mental health overall. By reflecting on the holiday season in a journal, or just thinking about it to yourself, you can start to identify what you are grateful for from the holidays. You can also start to identify what traditions you love most that truly draw you into the holiday season.
A final strategy is going outside more often. Find our “The importance of getting out in nature for your mental health”. By getting outdoors more often, you can start to feel the fog of post holiday blues start to lift and you can start to engage more with nature in a mindful way. Not only that, enjoying time outside can also promote more exercise, which is another way to improve your mood overall. These tips are discussed in terms of post-holiday blues, however, they can be used at any time in your life, and aren’t relegated to only being used if you struggle with the holidays being over.
Conclusion
Whether post-holiday blues is a new or old term to you, it’s something that can happen to anyone. This also isn’t relegated only to being experienced after a holiday like Christmas, but also Easter, or 4th of July, even your birthday or a wedding event. Since your dopamine levels build in anticipation of something, they do start to come down or level off to baseline after the event is over. With that in mind, you can start to use skills, attend therapy, or talk with a trusted friend about what you’re experiencing so you can help deter some of those blues from lingering too long and potentially causing more difficulties with your mental well-being. Don’t let the post holiday blues steal the joy from the rest of your year. Using the coping skills listed above, and reading some of our other articles on mental health you can start to overcome post-holiday blues, today.
Your life is always in bloom, don’t let post-holiday blues keep you from enjoying every day's beauty!