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So you are overflowing with return-to-work dread after a holiday reset...
This can be completely normal. Who doesn't like a holiday more than they like working?
But for some, this dread is overwhelming and perhaps a sign of deeper dissatisfaction with their job. Or, deeper still, those blues could be connected to unresolved work or personal trauma.
"The workplace is very stressful in regards to whether there is an abusive boss. There can be a lot of things that cause trauma or are the effects of trauma," said Richard Jeffrey, a counsellor at the organisation Men and Trauma New Zealand.
"A lot of people would think that... trauma should be really serious like broken bones and serious assaults and so on. There are degrees of trauma."
What is work trauma?
Trauma that comes from the workplace or shows itself in the workplace can be divided into a few categories, Jeffrey said. There's the vicarious trauma that, for example, an emergency room nurse might experience from constantly seeing the effects of violence and accidents experienced by others.
There is the trauma that comes from personally experiencing a one-off event such as a workplace accident or sexual assault. Trauma can also build up slowly over time.
"Lots of little events slowly pile up and it's like the straw that broke the camel's back and then one last one might put him over the edge into something extra distressing."
Workplace burnout is a form of creeping trauma, Jeffrey said.
"Vicarious trauma is specifically due to being exposed to others' trauma, where burnout is just simply from an environment that is directly affecting you, such as a boss that regularly harasses you."
These creeping traumas can also come via personal issues - financial strain, parenting difficulties, relationship conflict - and impact your joy for your job.
Unresolved trauma can lay dormant for years soothed by alcohol or something healthier like exercise, "but things can push you over the edge when that soothing trauma response you have chosen isn't enough," said Jeffrey.
Is it the post-holiday blues or something deeper?
Trauma in general can "represent an echo that gets called up from the past of something that wasn't quite resolved," Dr Nicole Pray, a Wellington-based clinical psychologist, said.
Pray said it could manifest as an increased heart rate, a tightening chest, a knotted stomach or something else.
"If it's coming up every Monday, there's something going on that isn't necessarily OK. It's about my past, but it means I need to pay attention, like if I'm miserable on a regular basis."
The holidays can provide clarity on our thoughts and feelings towards our jobs, wrote Dr Val O'Reilly (Kāi Tahu) and her colleagues from The Career Development Company, in an email to RNZ.
"Taking a break from work can provide the distance/perspective that's hard to find when focused on performing or surviving at work."
"Although the return to work after extended breaks, such as after an enjoyable summer holiday, might be a time when heightened anxiety around work trauma occurs, as career professionals we see people throughout the year who have reached a tipping point of dissatisfaction/disappointment/despair."
What to do about it?
"It's important for people to be able to tell their story without judgement," wrote O'Reilly.
Often these stories are complex and can involve numerous trauma points in a person's life that are inside and outside the workplace such as bullying and harassment, racism, sexism and stifled career progression.
Jeffrey recommends talking to a close friend or family member who is good at listening without necessarily offering solutions. Exercising and eating well can help but not heal.
Seek out the relief of green spaces - getting back to nature - rather than a mind-numbing scroll on social media, said Pray.
"Our bodies are being completely overhauled in today's age where we think we can sit in front of a computer and be healthy, and we can't."
But sometimes a person's trauma response might still overwhelm these strategies.
"There's a lot of self-help stuff out there, but ultimately, if your trauma is serious enough that it continues to disrupt your life, you're gonna have to do something therapeutic," said Jeffrey.
