Tips to Help Clients with Post-Holiday Blues
The holiday season is not always the most wonderful time of the year. Adverse feelings can set in when the surprises and celebrations are over. Many individuals experience sadness and loneliness both during and after the holidays. Common causes include financial struggles and difficulty traveling. Other sources include returning home after long vacations and finding everyday life unsatisfying.
As a healthcare professional, you must provide your clients with methods to work through post-holiday blues. The following suggestions can help.
Use these tips to help your clients deal with post-holiday blues.
Identify the Sources of Post-Holiday Blues
Your clients may feel down because of the stress they experienced with holiday preparations. Shopping, gift-giving, celebrations, and house guests add pressure and stress to people’s lives. Also, a lack of balance in carrying out holiday plans can result in feelings of tension, exhaustion, and overwhelm. These emotions can carry over into the new year.
Your clients might experience post-holiday blues due to disappointments from the previous year. These unfulfilled expectations may include strained relationships or the inability to spend time with friends or go home for the holidays.
Feelings of grief, sadness, and shame could result from holiday advertisements, promotions, and media. Continuous exposure to messages of holiday cheer can trigger feelings that impact your clients’ mental health.
When working with your clients to deal with post-holiday blues, remind them that their feelings are short-term. Your clients should focus on navigating one day at a time. Eventually, these adverse emotions will work themselves out.
Develop Methods to Work Through Post-Holiday Blues
Encourage your clients not to overthink the experiences that may be causing post-holiday blues. Suggest your clients focus on upcoming events in their lives instead. Examples include a birthday celebration, wedding, anniversary, or another special event that brings them joy.
Remind your clients to get enough sleep each night, eat healthy foods, and exercise daily. These activities promote positive feelings and increased mental health.
Your clients might seek family, friends, colleagues, coworkers, or a manager to talk with about their post-holiday blues. Being surrounded by people who care supports feeling positive emotions.
Suggest your clients limit their commitments to others. This frees up time to devote to self-care. Taking care of their own needs helps your clients feel happier and more productive throughout the day.