Social season fatigue

BABBELAS: THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS CAN LEAVE YOU EMOTIONALLY DRAINED

- Hein Kaiser

The holiday season is all about joy and connection, and a bucket load of family and friends. By the time the second day of January comes around, many people are running on empty.

The emotional hangover, beyond the babbelas, of the festive season is called social fatigue and unravels after a month spent rushing between gatherings, negotiating family dynamics, managing budgets, shopping and trying to meet social expectations and to be jolly.

Social worker Carryn Hennessy said many people push through December on a supercharged autopilot. The pressure to meet the expectations of everyone else takes its toll along with not living in the present moment.

"January arrives and people wonder why they feel flat or irritable. It is emotional jet lag. The mind and body are still recovering while life expects you to be fully switched on again, because the calendar changed days" she said.

For many people the holidays are a lonely and difficult time, and having to face this can be emotionally draining.