Workplace Wellbeing: Put your best foot forward when it’s time to go back

Dreading going back to work after the holidays? Effective planning and preparation can help to ease the transition 

Ciara Spillane. Photograph Moya Nolan

Ciara Spillane used to dread going back to work after the holidays. The 43-year-old from Dublin was working in the tech sector at the time and anxiety would kick in a few days before she was due to return to the office.

“It would manifest itself psychologically and physically,” she says. “I’d sleep for only a few hours each night. My stomach would be unsettled, and I’d have pains from clenching my hands and jaw. I’d find it hard to be in the moment with my friends and family because work would be on my mind constantly. I felt sick at the thought of it.”