How to Avoid the New Year's Blues and Keep your Spirits up After the Holidays

Christmas and New Year celebrations give loved ones the opportunity to spend wonderful times together shopping, drinking, eating, gifting, and simply relaxing. Unfortunately, everything that has a beginning has an ending. With nothing to look forward to in mid-January, except for the pressure to achieve something new and big that year, a lot of people end up experiencing New Year's blues. Going back to the norm can be a bit challenging, especially for those living abroad.

Here's a range of tactics for avoiding homesickness when you're away from loved ones after the festive season:

Acceptance
First of all, it's quite normal to feel down after the holidays. In fact, New Year blues are part of a cycle, meaning they'll come and go. The first step to overcoming January blues is adopting an acceptance mindset, which means recognizing that things have gone back to normal. Rejecting reality is likely to lead to surges of hope followed by huge disappointments.

Make a Plan
After the high of a holiday, going back to the regular, boring routine is enough to lower anyone's spirits. Revive the excitement of anticipation by planning fun activities such as fun get-togethers with friends, a trip to take place in a few months, or start thinking of what you'll do over Easter. Use an international calling app that makes cheap international calls to include others back home in your plans. Whatever you plan, ensure the activities fit your budget, lifestyle, and will give you a thrill.

Stay Active
Staying active is another great way to avoid getting the blues when you are away from loved ones. Luckily, there are several ways to keep you occupied after the festivities, including exercising, trying a new sport, taking walks, starting a new class for a hobby or interest, etc. Getting outdoors and staying active keeps your mind occupied and helps release mood-boosting endorphins.

Get Your Finances in Order
Part of the New Year blues come from financial stress. We spend a lot of money on trips, food, and all forms of entertainment during the holidays. This leaves a lot of people with holiday debt. After the festivities, it's time to sit down and sort your financial situation. If you still have some money left, use it to settle a bill/debt right away. It's also important to set yourself a budget for the next few months until your finances are back in order.

Get a Grip on Jet Lag
People living abroad tend to travel across multiple time zones to be with loved ones during Christmas. Unfortunately, they may end up experiencing jet lag. The body clock takes time to adjust to the timing of light and darkness at the destination. This disrupted rhythm can cause certain unpleasant symptoms like a headache, poor concentration, tiredness, disorientation, and indigestion. Restoring your regular sleep pattern can help speed up the re-adjustment phase after the holidays.

Reframe the Situation
Whatever emotions you are experiencing, try making your circumstances work in your favor. For instance, think of the extra pounds you gained over Christmas as an incentive to finally start exercising and eating healthy. Some mood-boosting foods to stock up are those containing vitamin B like whole grains and those containing Omega-3 fatty acids such as oily fish. Reframing your situation will make you feel like you are in control of your life and not the other way around.

Be Sociable

Spending time with friends or even colleagues is another great mood-booster. If you just moved to a new country, it's time to perk up your social life. Fortunately, technology has made it possible to meet people from all walks of life. There are several apps for meeting new friends and keeping in touch at Christmas, including Bumble BFF, Friender, WeChat's 'shake' feature, and much more.

Laugh all the time
Laughter releases endorphins which instantly raise your spirits. When the festive season feels long gone and you have nothing exciting to look forward to, find humor in everyday things and avoid taking life too seriously. Lighten the load by making some jokes, reading a funny book, watching funny movies, going to comedy shows, or simply hanging out with friends who make you laugh. Plus, remembering memories of strange and funny moments during the festivities will surely get you giggling.

Stay Connected
Most of the New Year blues are related to having been around many people over the festive season and then suddenly finding yourself surrounded by few people or people you don't know that well. To lift your spirits, try and stay in touch with loved ones throughout the year. Luckily, keeping in touch at Christmas and after the festivities has been made easier and faster with technological advancements.

Those living or traveling abroad can now make cheap international calls with apps such as Whatsapp, Viber, Facebook Messenger, Skype, WeChat, Google Duo, and much more. Although app-to-app chats are free, they require an internet connection. In the event that your loved ones haven't installed an internet connection or the older generation don't own or even know how to operate smartphones, you can use the Yolla app. This international calling app makes cheap calls to mobiles and landlines across the globe.