What to Do with the Post-Holiday Blues?

By: Camden Baucke MS LLP

I tend to see January as the end of the holiday season.

In the United States, the holiday season typically starts before Thanksgiving and ends around New Years eve.

For more than a month, winter festivities permeate several facets of our lives including our food, our traditions, work schedules, social engagements, spending, and so on.

However, the ushering in of the next year means putting away the festoons and festivities.

The holiday month comes to an end and we integrate back into our usual schedules – but this transition isn’t always easy.

For many, the end of the holiday season can bring the blues, and I have a few ideas as to why.

In this article, I’ll talk about the post-holiday blues, what they really are, and what to do when you’re feeling it.

What Are the Post-Holiday Blues?

To break it down, “post-holiday” literally means when the holidays are over.

The post-holiday blues can follow any bank-holiday, but it’s most noticeable in January given the frequency and intensity of holidays in the winter months.

“Blues” refers to feelings of sadness, loneliness, fatigue, melancholy, or stress.

For individuals with pre-existing mental health conditions, the blues can be an exacerbation of pre-existing depression and/or anxiety.

Essentially, the post-holiday blues represent the emotional whiplash of holiday tradition, ease, and connection.

Why Do We Get the Post-Holiday Blues?

I want you to consider the current climate in the United States right now for most families.

Loneliness is on the rise, as well as anxiety and depression. This is in addition to increasing work demands and stress.

However, starting around Thanksgiving, there is a general shift in society towards celebration.

This shift involves several unique aspects that make this time of year special:

(1) Rest – for many, the winter holidays provide time off work, which can allow for rest and recovery.

(2) Connection – family and friends are often the core of the winter holidays. This can be true both in a positive way (time spent together) or a negative way (reflecting on family issues).

(3) Meaning – winter holidays provide significant cultural, social, and religious meaning. The days are unique and routine is often broken by intentional gratitude, kindness, and love.

In a climate of increasing work demands, the holidays can offer a reprieve. In an evermore lonely world, the holidays can offer closeness. With repetition, routine, and monotony, comes a time of significance and compassion.

Then, the year changes and we flip the switch – right back to “normal“.

Even then, New year resolutions can push you straight into rigid productivity and the “grind“.

It might sound understandable for others, but it’s also crucial that you recognize the post-holiday blues in yourself.

Why it’s important to Notice

If you feel a drop-off after the holidays, it could be an indicator that something is missing.

If you feel the post-holiday blues when your friends or family go back to their lives, maybe you’re lonely the rest of the time. You might not feel comfortable or able to make connections otherwise.

If going back to your regular routine feels dreadful, maybe you don’t have enough room for rest or breaks? You could also be pressing yourself too hard and only feel able to rest once the holidays demand it.

If life feels like a meaningless blur up until the last month of the year, then what’s going on in the other eleven months? Why is it that the holidays are the only unique or memorable days of the year? It’s a depressing thought that 12 years could bring only 12 months of meaningful living.

A drop-off in connection, meaning, and rest might indicate that something is missing in your average day.

If you notice it’s missing in your average day, it’s something worth addressing.

But you need to know that you don’t have to wait all year to feel loved, rested, and fulfilled.

It’s important you don’t gatekeep the life you want to the last month of every year.

How to Manage the Post-Holiday Blues

Don’t brush off the post-holiday blues as just a random drop in dopamine or “ just how it goes“.

Take the time to utilize these valuable signals to meet more of your needs throughout the year.

Reach Out

If you’re feeling lonely, then I encourage you to start reaching out.

Start calling or texting friends and family more often. Join communities of things that you love. Volunteer or make plans and invite others to attend. Find your people, your tribe, and try to integrate them more into your schedule in 2026.

Reschedule

If you’re feeling exhausted, re-evaluate your responsibilities and leisure.

Is there something you can do to make your job more sustainable or do you need a new and less draining job entirely? Are you starving yourself of rest? Do you wait to recover until the last minutes of your day only to wake up tired and trudge through the next day?

You can have a hand in shaping your schedule – even if you only free up 10 more minutes of rest, that can make a difference.

Rediscover

If you’re feeling unfulfilled, it’s important to discover what would bring more meaning into your life.

I encourage you to try and identify your top 10 values – identify what’s important to you, what you can do to fulfill those values, and incorporate those into your schedule. Seek novelty, try new things, and learn new skills.

Reach further into yourself to find what’s meaningful to you, but also reach outside yourself to broaden your horizons.

Final Thoughts – Opportunity for Growth

Although the post-holiday blues feel pretty bad, that doesn’t always mean they are bad.

The yearning for love and connection isn’t bad, neither is a want for fulfillment and freedom.

Pain has the job of alerting you to something that needs addressing.

If you experience the post-holiday blues, you might have some very important parts of your life that you can change for the better, resulting in a more enjoyable year overall.

There are going to be some things you can’t change like harmful family dynamics and work schedules. However, it’s not about trying to control those things – it’s about controlling what you can by meeting your needs – needs made incredibly clear by the post-holiday blues.

Thank You for Reading!