Beat post-Ramadan and Eid-break blues
There are ways to motivate yourself to get back to routine activities, expert says
Were you feeling lowspirited when getting back to work yesterday morning?
After 30 days of shorter Ramadan working hours and a four-day break, getting back to regular working hours could induce what experts call post-vacation blues.
But there are plenty of ways to overcome these blues, said Dr Saliha Afridi, director of Light House Arabia in Dubai.
“[Many] may feel a lack of energy and resources. They might be feeling disengaged and demotivated. Some might even experience anxiety about the workload and [having to meet] expectations of projects that are imminent.”
What could compound the blues is that you may have to get back to regular work while others around you are taking a post-Eid vacation.
“Returning to routine while everyone else is leaving can be very difficult,” Dr Afridi said.
While it’s normal to feel this way, there are many reasons why people can get into this state of mind, Dr Afridi explained.
“As human beings, we avoid pain and seek pleasure. As life in general has become very stressful, even shorter working hours and a vacation are not enough for some people to de-stress and return to work energised.”
A big aspect of this syndrome is that people don’t plan their return to work after Ramadan, so they return to a long list of meetings and emails they probably have delayed responding to, Dr Afridi added.
There is also the fact that “Ramadan and holidays [this year] happen to end right as we get into the thick of summer”.
Feeling stuck indoors and not getting the exposure to the sun and outdoors can result in a type of Seasonal Affective Disorder, which has a lot of the symptoms of depression, Dr Afridi noted.
For Maria J., a social media marketing controller, getting back to the work routine was not easy.
“It’s hard to settle in on the first day. I was actually thinking about how difficult it would be for me even before I returned to work,” she said.
She’s not the only one, many of her colleagues had similar feelings, she added. “I think it’s normal to feel lazy on the first few days, but people should get used to it eventually.”
But not everyone post-vacation blues.
“There are people who enjoy their work and find a lot of meaning and purpose in returning to work. Others appreciate the rhythm of a normal routine,” Dr Afridi said. is hit by