Tips For Enjoying The Holidays After a Year Marked by COVID-19.
This year, after months of limitations, a state of alarm, curfews … many people come to summer exhausted, but excited, eager to regain some normality and enjoy some well-deserved days of rest in company of the people we love. Being, of course, responsible, since the pandemic does not give truce, but taking advantage of the rest and leaving work obligations aside for a few days.
Holidays allow us to regain energy, be more in touch with ourselves, put stress aside and take advantage of doing things that, perhaps, the rest of the year, we cannot do, such as sleeping more, reading, spending time with friends and family, discovering new places, enjoying outdoor activities… Holidays are, without a doubt, a mental break that affects our mood. But, will these holidays be different, the first ones that approach relative normality?
See the holidays as a liberation
The truth is that, with caution, since the virus is still there, there are many of us who face these holidays as a kind of liberation. “There is no doubt that especially this year we look forward to the long-awaited summer holidays with more enthusiasm than ever. If the holidays are normally seen as a liberation, this year even more so.
And it is that in this year and a half of pandemic, many of us have felt constrained, forced to stay in the same place without being able to leave very far from our city, and not long ago even from our neighborhood. Therefore, now that the borders are open and the possibility of traveling is possible again, the first thing we feel is liberation, in contrast to what we have been living before: the obligation to stay in the same place, not far from home.
This year, even more necessary
This year, moreover, they are even more necessary for many people who have faced a difficult months due to the pandemic. “In general terms, whenever we go through a tough time, the need to disconnect and leave our usual environment increases to be able to reestablish ourselves mentally and return to being productive and feeling energetic to face daily obligations after returning from vacation” , confirms the psychologist, who highlights that this year more than ever that need is much more evident.
Holidays and stress
There are, yes, people who face the holidays with some stress, especially this year, because the health situation is not yet under control, what would the psychologist recommend to these people? “Doing what makes us feel safe, that’s the key. After everything we have experienced, it is normal that going outside our ‘safe’ environment produces uncertainty. You have to know how to deal with the uncertainty and stress that this situation generates for us. And one way to do it is to analyze the pros and cons of traveling or not, and in each situation assess what it will bring us both in the short and long term.
Benefits of vacation rest
Holidays are a necessary time, which helps us get out of our daily routine, to rest body and mind. “The vacation break is a rest for the mind and that will affect well-being on an emotional level. The opposite effect of not resting would be mental saturation, which, on an emotional level, can give us: mental fatigue, difficulty concentrating, lack of energy, lack of motivation, reluctance, depressed mood, difficulty in coping with daily obligations ”, says Begoña Fernández, who adds that all this symptomatology, unless there are other factors that are causing it, can be reduced with the mental rest that the holidays provide us, since in this period, we are more in contact with our most playful part .
The necessary digital disconnect
In a year in which, in addition, teleworking has been established in many companies, which makes us connected more easily, digital disconnection is undoubtedly more necessary than ever, especially at the work level. “More taking into account that for many people, teleworking has become their new way of working and that entails the ease of‘ carrying the office on their shoulders ’. For there to be a good mental rest, it is important to put our mind in another place that is not the daily routine and obligations.
Therefore, for there to be a quality mental disconnect, it is important not to be in contact with work.
