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00:00 Hello folks, welcome back to the C Morning Show, right here on C Today.
00:06 It is the Friday edition and we're marking right now to the first discussion of the day
00:10 where the long-eat holiday season has officially come to an end.
00:14 However, it's not uncommon that after the holiday passes, feelings of sadness and even
00:19 loneliness start to creep in.
00:21 Wow, that's different.
00:22 I know, loneliness and sadness, Carol.
00:26 Dr. Nicole Holingshed, a psychologist and clinical assistant professor of family and
00:31 community medicine at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center also says that after
00:38 the holiday ends, people may feel lost or empty without engaging in activities that
00:43 help them focus.
00:44 Indeed, this is what's known as post-holiday blues and referring to the short-term feelings
00:49 experienced by someone after a holiday including sadness, loneliness, fatigue, disappointment,
00:56 lethargy, mental pressure, or even the fear of months ahead.
01:01 So with that said, we're going to talk about this, Sarah.
01:03 Yes, Carol, we'll learn more about post-holiday blues, what exactly, because now we are joined
01:09 in in the studio by psychological associate and lecturer, Regina Nafira.
01:14 Good morning, Regina.
01:16 How are you?
01:17 I'm fine, thank you.
01:18 Do you have a post-holiday blues?
01:20 Oh, not really.
01:21 No holidays for us.
01:22 I know, holidays for us.
01:23 But this is interesting, post-holiday blues, because we usually talk about, we joke around
01:29 about coming back to work, but post-holiday blues from a psychological perspective, what
01:35 is actually holiday blues?
01:36 Actually, there is no clinical diagnosis of post-holiday blues.
01:41 It's just, you know, it's just like a popular state, like from people's opinion about this
01:46 kind of thing.
01:47 But it sometimes happens to everybody.
01:50 On some people it happens because they need some of adjustment.
01:54 And also they have a lot of pressure from work, study, daily routine activity, like
02:00 for stay at home mother, maybe stay at home father, something like that.
02:04 And also if it stay with depression and anxiety sometimes, so it will be a problem.
02:11 And some people may experience such as irritability after that, because they really hard to adjust
02:19 between holiday and vacation.
02:21 They also like trapped in the feeling of nostalgic, like, "Oh, I want to stay in the holiday."
02:26 But the problem is they work or maybe they, yeah, daily activity.
02:29 Yeah, I think I remember I have a post-holiday blues is when I was in elementary or maybe
02:34 in junior high school, right?
02:35 Because high school, I'm like, "Okay, I can't wait to see my friends."
02:37 But elementary school and whenever we have holidays, we felt like, "Oh my God, we just
02:40 only have three months of holidays or one month holiday of summer."
02:43 And then you just want to have more time being with your family, going around places.
02:48 But when you're already a professional on the work zone, it seems it was kind of odd.
02:53 Is this a mental health disorder that you may say?
02:57 No, it's not a mental condition and also it's not mental disorder, but it can lead to be
03:02 mental condition when the depression or anxiety comes more prominent, like persists, like
03:10 more than two weeks.
03:11 Oh, okay.
03:12 Yeah, more than two weeks, it might be more serious.
03:14 Yeah.
03:15 And it is some of professional hands.
03:18 And that's the problem is, yeah, that's the thing is someone cannot find balance and coping
03:22 strategy to handle the stressors from, yeah, daily routine, like off the holiday, they
03:29 want to go back there.
03:30 Yeah, that's the thing.
03:31 It's not a mental condition.
03:32 Definitely people on Monday or next Monday, they will have this post-holiday blues, but
03:36 probably Tuesday, they already adapt to it.
03:37 Like, "Okay, I'm back in the zone.
03:39 It's time to go to work again."
03:40 Time to go back to work.
03:41 Yeah.
03:42 But speaking of people who are more prone to the holiday blues, you have mentioned before,
03:46 Regina, that some people may feel these post-holiday blues.
03:51 Are there some people who you think are more at risk?
03:54 For example, a certain age group, or for example, what kind of work they are doing, or probably
04:00 because for people who are working and also living separate from their families, who are
04:05 more at risk?
04:06 Yeah, it's actually, we need to see this deeply, case by case.
04:11 Like each person has different, like their immunity of personality.
04:15 So that's the thing.
04:16 So the problem is the way they try to enjoy their life, being mindful, being aware that
04:22 the present is important.
04:24 Like they're only waiting for, "Okay, we need to, we can," and then pray or something.
04:28 They don't enjoy their life.
04:30 So the problem is that.
04:31 Yeah.
04:32 So the question becomes, when should we be more aware or when should we seek professional
04:37 help?
04:38 Because as Carol mentioned before, we often feel this as well.
04:41 I mean, going back to school back then and then going back to work sometimes.
04:44 Okay.
04:45 But sometimes we can get over it personally.
04:47 But when should we seek professional help?
04:50 Okay.
04:51 When we are returning home long after the holiday, after two weeks, and then we feel
04:55 the negative thing in ourselves and it affect negatively in our daily life and our relationship
05:01 with others, we can get connect even to ourselves and people and our work, our performance,
05:07 and we are lack of motivation.
05:09 So it's time to go to the professional because they will help us to recognize the symptoms
05:15 and also make a diagnosis.
05:17 And some people can get the best treatment of it.
05:19 Yeah.
05:20 But they cannot cope with this.
05:21 Definitely, Regina.
05:22 There are some signs, right?
05:23 There are symptoms and also the signs that when one felt like, "Okay, I'm getting more
05:27 depressed."
05:28 Loneliness, when you were saying that one of the symptoms are loneliness because probably
05:31 someone that is working that very far, maybe they're living abroad or, you know, different
05:36 areas with the family or with the loved ones, they would feel like, "I'm so lonely because
05:39 after that one week or 10 days period they're together, now I have to be apart again from
05:43 my family or my loved ones."
05:45 So what kind of the signs or how can you step back to reality when you felt like, "Okay,
05:50 this is, I'm getting more depressed.
05:52 This is getting more severe.
05:53 How should we go back to reality?"
05:54 Yeah, it's like homesick, kind of like that.
05:58 I was also in that position, like everybody, homesick.
06:02 The most important is self-care.
06:03 Do self-care.
06:04 Do some space for yourself.
06:06 It's okay for being alone.
06:08 Loneliness, it's okay.
06:09 Sometimes it's bad, but being alone, it's not that bad.
06:11 That's right.
06:12 Yeah, you can get connect with yourself just thinking that what you are doing is valuable.
06:16 This is important.
06:17 Why you have to do this?
06:19 It's worthy to stay away from your family for a while maybe and you can go back with
06:23 smile but now you have to live now.
06:26 And sometimes we need to understand that we have to be grateful for what we have right
06:30 now for being present.
06:32 I love that word, grateful.
06:33 Sometimes we're just not grateful enough to what we have right now because sometimes we
06:38 see what is above from others but we don't see what we have, right?
06:43 Yeah, exactly.
06:44 And then I also love about being alone does not always mean that you're lonely as well.
06:50 Yes, definitely.
06:51 So it's something you have to be able to focus on as well.
06:54 And speaking of post-holiday blues and how to overcome it, can you please also share
06:58 with us, is this a one-time trigger or one-time thing after the holidays?
07:03 Yes, you can face post-holiday blues or is it like an accumulation of what has been gone
07:08 through by a certain individual throughout its time of work?
07:12 Like we help someone, something like that.
07:14 Yes, because we may work for like a certain amount of time, let's say six months and then
07:17 we take a holiday.
07:18 Is it because only the holiday itself because we feel the loved ones at home and then we
07:23 have to go back to work or is it because stress we find at work but we just blame it on the
07:28 holidays?
07:29 It's like a domino effect.
07:30 Oh yeah.
07:31 Okay, the problem is we need to recognize first the stressor that comes to us.
07:36 What kind of stressor?
07:37 Okay, we have to understand this.
07:39 Stop blaming something because the problem is in ourselves sometimes.
07:43 And of course, we also have the environment.
07:46 We cannot like, you know, avoid the feelings that we miss someone or we love someone and
07:52 then we have to stay away or something like that.
07:55 But the most important thing that we need to understand this first, the stressor.
08:00 And because when we try to understand and recognize the stressor or any symptom that
08:04 we feel, we can handle it effectively.
08:07 Because sometimes some people, they don't have the ability to recognize the stressor
08:13 and then they just try to go to, you know, a bad lifestyle, like eating something like
08:19 too sweet or drinking alcohol.
08:22 When you're stressed, it's not that good to do that kind of thing.
08:25 Because the most important thing is like, find a good way to make you feel natural first.
08:30 Just do not think that, "Okay, I want to be happy."
08:32 It doesn't mean that when you are sad, you can be happy like instantly.
08:36 No.
08:37 It's the process and we need to find that process.
08:40 And of course, it's okay to talk to someone else that you trust to, you know, like give
08:44 the feeling and then make the memories like permanent.
08:49 It doesn't mean that's bad to remember the memory and then understand this, but awareness
08:54 and mindfulness is important.
08:56 Yeah.
08:57 And very mindful of how we live, right?
08:59 And again, you were saying before that I love that word being grateful.
09:03 Have pride in yourself that what you're doing right now, you're going back to work, you
09:06 have a job.
09:07 It is very hard right now to find jobs.
09:08 And if you have one, you should be grateful and very mindful that you have one and you're
09:12 so blessed with that.
09:13 And then you're working hard for maybe another month or another time that you're going to
09:17 have a holiday, be back again with your family members or having a holiday for yourself.
09:21 And it's just a reflection of yourself knowing that, yes, I am capable of doing what I can
09:25 right now.
09:26 And I'm very grateful for what I have.
09:28 And then finding activities.
09:29 I said, like you said, you know, eating sweets, food intake is really matters, right?
09:34 And then for like for me, for instance, I love working out, like working out, takes
09:38 out the endorphins.
09:39 I feel just better after one hour after I work out.
09:42 So find activities that you love to do to love yourself back and then you can love others
09:46 too.
09:47 And Regina, we love ourselves.
09:49 We're very content, but we see our friends or our family members are maybe experiencing
09:54 the post-holiday blues.
09:56 How should we give care to them and how should we motivate them?
10:00 OK, when we are talking about our family member or friends that, you know, experience post-holiday
10:05 blues, the most important thing is we try to be a good listener.
10:09 OK, that's the best to give them positive feedback.
10:12 Just validate their feelings.
10:15 We can help them to feel like, OK, you are valuable.
10:19 Just do your activity now, like live in your present, live your life now, something like
10:24 that.
10:25 But sometimes, you know, the spillover after holiday, it will be a problem.
10:30 It like, you know, comes the problem and situation.
10:33 And we have to understand and recognize sometimes when it comes and we can see the tendency
10:39 of, you know, kind of clinical depression.
10:44 We can see this when it gets worse for them.
10:47 So it means that we can give them advice, just go to professional because you cannot
10:50 handle this.
10:51 You will expend your energy and you will get, you know, drained, emotionally drained when
10:54 you are not capable enough to handle this kind of clinical condition.
11:00 But if it's still normal, it's OK, just help them to go to relax and just talk much and
11:05 just probing them to just talk.
11:08 Come on, we can go relax and something like that and help them.
11:11 And what is the worst case scenario if one does not seek professional help when they
11:16 need to?
11:17 OK, it means that they find the imbalance, right, physically, psychologically and mentally.
11:24 The problem is they cannot live well, like they have, they are incapable to do good things.
11:32 They cannot, you know, there will be lack of motivation.
11:35 Can you imagine they cannot finish their job, their work?
11:39 They said they're being so lazy, lack of motivation, and they can be run away from
11:44 being unresponsible from the thing that they have to do.
11:50 That's the thing.
11:51 And do you agree as a psychologist, from a psychological perspective, that for a vacation
11:58 that takes too much of your time, you have taken a vacation for way too long, is prone
12:04 to more post-holiday blues?
12:07 If like we take the vacation for too long?
12:09 Yes, for say, weeks, two weeks, three weeks, or it doesn't matter as long as the psychological
12:14 condition.
12:15 I would love to have three weeks holiday.
12:16 I would love to have three weeks holiday.
12:17 Going back to school.
12:18 That's right.
12:19 It doesn't matter actually about the time, like how many days that you spend for holidays,
12:25 but the most important thing, just give some preventive way to have like two or three days
12:30 before we go for daily work or daily life routine.
12:34 Take three days to adjust.
12:36 We still have to self-care and get connection and time for adjust.
12:40 Okay, this is a holiday, just stay at home for three days and then you go for work.
12:45 It will be better and help someone.
12:47 Yeah, definitely.
12:48 I think coming back to real life right now, because this is where we live, where we do
12:53 our activities in one, and knowing that in the later days, we're going to have our holiday
12:57 again where you can have your relaxation and more times with your family and loved ones.
13:02 Thank you very much for your time and giving us the insights for us not to have a post-holiday
13:08 blues definitely, but we should talk more about the baby blues for the three of us.
13:12 Since we're mothers right here.
13:13 Thank you so much for your time.
13:15 We'll see you again.
13:16 All right, folks.
13:17 We are going to step back momentarily, but when we return, we will have the world headlines.
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13:43 you