How was your summer?
Mine was good, I went to Switzerland to relax, hike, and take a lot of beautiful photos.
In the middle of our trip, I started coughing and had a sore throat. No big deal you might think, but after we got back home it got worse and I’m still kind of recovering from this.
That was more than 2 weeks ago.
But, then I came across an article about getting sick after vacation and it really got my interest because it has happened before. I also got sick in March after we had our trip to Italy.
I’ll shortly explain what this article says.
According to interviewed Doctor, up to 80 percent of returning travelers get affected by this “after-travel-sickness”.
“When you travel,” says Dr. Oza, “your usual routines are disrupted. You may not be sleeping as well as you do at home, and your eating habits change when you’re away.
Which makes sense.
But then there’s the whole other side of this story and that’s the mental disruption.
It’s what I call: “After Summer Dip”.
You can picture something with that word I think.
Most people get semi-depressed after leaving their vacation location or finishing their trip.
That’s because they haven’t processed the things they’ve done on their vacation. It’s too many good times and beautiful memories to process in the short time you have when you go home.
If you feel like this is you, and you struggle with your mental health, besides reading Rewire Yourself, subscribing to Potencia Mind can help you learn about personal growth, self-help, mental health, the brain, productivity & high performance. Book, blog & newsletter lovers. Lifelong learners.
There are some things that you can do to improve the quality of your mental well-being.
One of them is Sleep.
Sleep is as important as breathing.
Without a proper sleeping rhythm, we’ll go completely bonkers and you need a lot to recover from that insanity.
There are actually people who tried to get the world record for not sleeping.
The first one to do it was Randy Gardner with more than 11 days without sleep. The man had a lot of health issues years after he did this experiment.
It tells us to get some sleep.
Around 7–7.5 hours per night is enough. Definitely not more than 8, and not less than 6. If you want to become happier, then sleeping is a great way to start because your mood really gets affected by the lack of sleep and the quality of your sleep.
Another one is Procrastination.
We’re all guilty. Don’t try to hide it.
You’re a big procrastinator — which is fine if you want to be unhappy for the rest of your life.
No, all kidding aside. You should try to limit the number of tasks you put away.
When you delay something, you might feel relieved because you don’t have to do it right now, but you’ll also know that there will be a moment when you have to do it.
That’s causing stress and making you unhappy.
I wrote, “Procrastination Is Stopping You From Reaching Your Potential: Beat It.”
Maybe it helps break this bad habit.
Personally, I think this one is too much overlooked and underrated in general: Gratitude.
Be grateful.
Be grateful.
Be grateful.
Repeat that another million times and mean it. Practicing gratitude on a daily basis is essential for a peaceful mind.
There are so many beautiful things in the world to be grateful for. You’ll need to recognize them, write them down, and truly realize them. Keeping a journal is perfect for this.
It’s something you could do every night, to begin with. Just before you go to sleep write down what you were grateful for that day.
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” — John F. Kennedy
Bad habits are there to be broken.
You’re not bound to your bad habits as if you were in chains. It’s your courage that it takes to become a better human.
Practice and beat your own demons.