News

Read our September article.

Article originalment publicat el 2 de setembre de 2017.

After a beautiful summer of beach days and long, relaxing evenings, returning to work often comes as a bit of a shock. The reality of being back in the office or the classroom could have left you feeling a bit down in the dumps. Don't despair though. There are lots of steps you can take to keep your mood up so you can get back into the swing of things smoothly this month.

Exercise

We all know the feeling when holidays are over - you’ve been so motivated up until your trip away but now it´s all over, it feels as if you've lost your drive for health and fitness or you've swapped running in the park for netflix marathons on the sofa. However, despite our tendency to stay indoors and hunker down when we’re feeling blue, exercise can often be the best tool we have to beat low mood.

It’s a well known fact that exercise can make you feel better and when you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins that act as nature’s mood enhancers. As well as the physical effects, exercise also has many psychological benefits. Working out gives you space to take your mind off of your concerns and have time to yourself. Feeling the changes that are going on in your body and mind helps give you a sense of achievement, and being involved in an exercise class or sports club can provide a really positive sense of community.

Have things to look forward to

Planning and scheduling your weeks and months means you can incorporate activities you look forward to. Make what's left of September inspiring - you put all that effort into dreaming about your holiday, put some effort into dreaming about your reality. It isn't even the end of the summer in Catalonia, so make the most of sunny days and warm evenings while they last and plan for the next season of exciting festivities coming just around the corner.

Nurse your reverse culture shock

To beat that "What am I doing in (insert boring place) when I could be back in (insert fabulous holiday destination)?" feeling, try to remind yourself of the things that you love about your hometown. What that means is entirely subjective, but it could be anything from taking a walk through a nearby park to catching up with friends at your favourite local café. Just remember that if you were always on holiday, there'd be nothing left to look forward to (and you'd be very poor)!

Recreate a summer treat

Whether you were in Ibiza or Italy, think back to some of the things that made your holiday so relaxed. Was it sipping a cool cocktail or some local beer while enjoying a relaxed supper? You can recreate this mood in your own home by mixing up the same cocktails and planning a couple of leisurely meals over the weekend. Many big supermarkets now carry lines from the countries you have visited so make the effort to plan a menu using those ingredients. Tastes from the country you visited will bring back those happy memories.

Start planning your next trip away

Now is the perfect time to enjoy browsing brochures for next summer's trip. There's no better way to cure a travel hangover than to pull out a map, do some research and get excited about the amazing adventures to come. It's said that taking time to plan a something exciting like a holiday lifts your mood as we all like having something to look forward to.