Does anyone else feel hungover after the holidays, or is it just me?
I’m not talking about New Year’s Eve. I’m talking about the full week between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day. I feel like I’ve been on a week-long bender, and I don’t even drink!
Normally, even though I set the bar really, really low, I need a full day to recover after even a one-day holiday, like Thanksgiving. Christmas is usually worse, but this year, it was off the charts. Today is January 2 and I’m still recovering from last week’s non-stop, back-to-back-to-back-to-back events.
Here’s a quick breakdown of my last eight days:
Drive to New York City for Christmas eve with my in-laws. Drive to Long Island for Christmas day with my parents and sister. Drive back home. Work. Celebrate my dad’s 80th birthday. Work. Work some more. Drive back to New York for my not-by-blood-but-still-family-faux-niece’s wedding. Drive back home. Work. Work some more. And some more. New Year’s eve dinner. Work again — on New Year’s Day, no less.
Not exactly the stuff of holiday vacation goals. At least not mine.
And I didn’t even mention the overwhelming preparation leading up to each of these holidays/events: The hours spent shopping and wrapping gifts, cooking, searching for wedding-appropriate clothes (for all four of us), driving, and being stuck in traffic.
All that on top of the usual adult responsibilities. You know, things like grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, running errands, and work deadlines.
It’s a lot. It was a lot.
But the holiday hangover is more than just physically exhausting; it’s emotionally draining.
To get it all done, I stayed up way too late too many nights and skipped meals, which exaggerated my stress and anxiety. Needless to say, I wasn’t very pleasant to be around some days.
Then there was all the people-ing I had to do.
I LOVE my people. I really do. And I truly had fun with them all this past week. Christmas games this year were a hoot and Bitsy’s wedding was tons of fun — even dancing with a broken heel (thanks, D, for saving me with the gold sneakers). But after days and days of socializing, I’m officially all people-d out.
[BTW, here are the people I love most, minus PDG, at Kevin and Bitsy’s wedding]
If the cure for a hangover is two Tylenol, a Gatorade, and a bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich from @goodysbagels (#iykyk and if you don’t, go check them out on LI), then I think chakra balancing and a massage are the cure for a holiday hangover — unless someone wants to gift me a tropical beach vacation, which would be even better But even just a few days of no work, no people, and no long drives will help!
However you spent your holiday (non)break, I hope you found a way to recharge before getting back into your daily routine. For 2024, I’m focusing on balance and consistency, and giving myself what I need when I need it most. Right now, that’s a break — and a massage.
— LJDT
