5 Tips to Ease Back Into Work After the Holidays

• comments
• 
• 

The holidays are officially and sadly over, and that may mean crying for some people who dread going back to their not-so-glamorous jobs. Here are some ways to help cope with going back to the grind.

Happy first Monday of 2016 pic.twitter.com/jF2IVrC8AI

— Darth Vader (@DepressedDarth) January 4, 2016

1. Take the time you need. Book meetings and other office events on the second day after you come back, and not the first. It's not about catching up, but more about gradually easing back into the grind. Forbes reports that according to productivity consultant Julie Morgenstern, who wrote "Never Check Email in the Morning", "Build in some transition time. Don’t book anything for your first day in the office; allot the time. And block off the time in your calendar. If it looks like you’re available, people are going to put things on your calendar. These are meetings with your to-dos."

2. Declutter your workspace. The holidays may have left a litter of decor, gifts, greeting cards, and other items that are no longer of use to you. Keep what's important and discard the rest. Think New Year, new workspace. The Telegraph reports that decluttering is empowering because it enables you to physically make decisions about your life and do away with the "trash" in your life and on your desk.

3. Bring a piece of your holiday or vacation with you—as inspiration. CNN recommends bringing taking an element of your vacation and bringing it to work. Year-end trips and vacation come as rewards to some, so bring a knick knack to your desk as a reminder of that accomplishment. Whether it's a long-planned trip to Paris or just a road trip to the next state with family and friends, have something on your desk that you can look at and immediately be inspired by or even just simply put into a better mood.

4. Meditate and be grateful. If you have a job you're dreading to go back to, consider yourself lucky, other people don't even have jobs. Focus on the positive through mindfulness meditation. Yahoo! Health reports that according to Dr. Andrew Weil, meditation "is about establishing a different relationship with your thoughts, just for a little while. Instead of attention being drawn off by whatever thought happens to present itself, in meditation, you watch your thoughts from a different, more stabilized perspective. You're training yourself to place your attention where and when you want." Now that's something you could use all year round.

5. Leave the office on time. Lifehack recommends not staying a work late during your first days back from vacation. It's not like you're trying to make up for lost time. Work out a life-balance beginning your return and see how it could positively affect your health and life.

Who is feeling like this today? #BacktoWork https://t.co/WR9aGKiULX pic.twitter.com/nXuBeWjhPZ — gigsandtours (@gigsandtours) January 4, 2016