May 7, 2024
Back to the grind
After a lovely, long stretch of holidays over the Golden Week period, today is back to the grind for a lot of us. ToneToEdo wrote a great blog here about a concept called gogatsubyo, or the post-holiday blues, which I found really interesting—it's not something I knew of before, but I think it resonates with how a lot of us feel a few weeks into May.
Pic credit: Nick Morrison via Unsplash
I'm semi-excited to get back to my routine today – I feel recharged and had a good amount of time to relax and get some tasks done that I'd been putting off. However, I know that after a few days that enthusiasm will probably dissipate! On the whole, public holidays are fairly frequent here compared to my home country (Japan has 16 a year, Australia has only 10), so having a two-month stretch without any holidays feels like a really long time without a break.
I also think May is one of the nicest times of year here, weather-wise, which doesn't help the lull in holidays from now until mid-July. I don't mind June when it's rainy outside – it's easier to be working sometimes when the weather is dreary – but when the days are sunny and not too hot I feel like I'm missing out when I'm stuck at my computer!
Are you back to the grind today? How was your Golden Week overall?
1 Comment
TonetoEdo
on May 7
Today was my first day back on the high school campus. Gogatsubyo is on everyone's minds right now. Our morning meeting was about encouraging students who don't feel so enthusiastic after the holiday, and the lunchtime PA broadcast was all about tips to avoid gogatsubyo. Much of the talk was about pacing studies until the summer break starts in July.