Article: Monica Hilton-Barber from FAIRLADY
Image: Ablestock

Isn't it amazing how your feeling of calm and well-being can fade as quickly as your newly acquired tan? But with some mental gymnastics, you can channel that euphoric holiday feeling into something positive and long lasting. Here's how to make that feeling last:

Relive the experience
When your holiday snaps are developed, put them up on the fridge, behind the bathroom door, at your desk at work and any other place you can think of, so you're reminded of that happy feeling at every turn.

Show your holiday snaps and videos to friends and relatives until they plead for mercy. E-mail you favourite photographs to those living far away. Regale work colleagues with a blow-by-blow account of your holiday and look interested when they share their vacation stories in return.

By capturing your holiday on film, you can relive that holiday and be reminded of how calm and relaxed you felt for the rest of the year.

Start planning your next holiday
Avoid the back-to-reality blues by planning your next holiday as soon as possible. It gives you something to look forward to and half the fun of a holiday lies in the anticipation of good times ahead. Collect brochures from travel agents, search the Net for ideas and borrow books on exciting destinations from the library. Then start saving.

Take a mini-holiday every week
Give yourself lots of little holidays to look forward to by planning an outing every week or a weekend away every month. Don't just plan one long holiday annually as this places unrealistic expectations on your holiday and could lead to disappointment.

Take a break from your ordinary routine by interspersing it with fun and adventures as often as possible throughout the year.

Pack a picnic and go to the beach or the mountains for the day. Go on a day hike in a game reserve or natural area near you. Head off camping for a night or two. Explore the area within a two-hour driving distance from your home. Take advantage of travel offers to other cities in SA for the weekend – these often include hotel accommodation and car hire at remarkably reasonable prices.

Get your attitude right
Crawling into bed and burying your head under the duvet in the hopes that the morning will go away isn't going to help. Write down all the reasons why you love your home and your job.

Think of all the people you've missed while you've been away, the gossip you need to catch up on or the cute guy at the gym you like to flirt with.

Set goals and figure out how to achieve them. Throw yourself back into your routine with zealous motivation. Remember that the more energy and enthusiasm you put into your daily life, the more enjoyable it'll become for you and those around you.

Even if you're miserable, fake verve and vitality – there's nothing more joyless than a long, sad face spreading gloom about. And if your life's so awful that you dread stepping back into it, perhaps you need to start thinking of ways to make it better. That, at least, is something positive to look forward to tackling when you get home from your holidays.

Fall in love again
There can be nothing sexier than lounging about in the sunshine as your partner smears suntan lotion all over you. Or watching the sunset with your lover and a couple of cocktails. Simply hanging out together with time to chat is gorgeously appealing.

A summer holiday is a great way to re-ignite passions, which tend to become subdued with the stress of work and the humdrum of home life. How many of us marvel at how much more we like our husbands when we're not under pressure, and how attractive we find them when we're both having fun?

Hold on to that rediscovered love by scheduling time together. Indulge in romantic dinners, long walks on the beach, and take the occasional dirty weekend.

Test-drive the hotels, lodges and B&Bs within a few hours drive from your home to recapture that loving feeling. (If, however, you didn't adore your husband on holiday, and couldn't wait for him to go back to work, perhaps this is a warning sign!)

Revamp your career
Holidays allow you the time and space to step back from your busy life and assess where your career's going. But don't do anything rash. While getting into leatherwork and beaded jewellery and setting up an artsy-crafty stall at Port St Johns might seem a marvellous idea while on holiday there, it pays to do your homework first.

"You need to have a realistic plan with a sensible direction," says Jacqui Akhurst, senior psychology and counselling lecturer at the University of Natal.

"If it's the pressure of work you want to avoid, perhaps you need to look at ways of coping with stress better. Go back into the workplace first before making any hasty decisions. To go from one job into the next without thinking it through will only perpetuate a negative cycle in which you get trapped in the same pattern of working."

Make lifestyle changes
A change in pace and environment allows us to view things in a different perspective, says Jackie Akhurst. Take a fresh look at your life at the end of your holiday to see where changes are necessary.

"You need to look at how to get some balance to your life," she says. "Sometimes holidays can be very depressing because we come face to face with things we don't notice in our familiar surroundings. When we work and play hard, we can avoid facing the problem areas in our life."

Keep up healthy habits
Adopt any healthy habits acquired on holiday, like eating fruit for breakfast, enjoying healthy salads at lunchtime, sitting down to a family supper and getting an early night's sleep. Continue with the board games and jigsaw puzzles instead of television.

Get up early in the morning and go for a walk or take a swim. Take that evening soccer, cricket, bat and ball or touch-rugby game out to a nearby park or your garden. Carry on playing with your family and finding silly things to laugh about.

Chill out
Those whose holiday didn't live up to their expectations are probably now feeling doubly cheated. Comfort yourself with the thought that perhaps holidays are overrated. Alternatively, take another vacation as soon as possible, and another, and another, until you finally relax and have a good time.