Get some sleep, stop drinking and 'suit-up'

11 January 2016 - 09:36 By YOLISA MKELE

The holidays are over and your life looks like a child's bedroom after a sugar party sponsored by Bacchus. Alas, every high fructose orgy must end and nothing ends a party like having to go back to work. The first week of work can often feel like being caught in a Highveld storm wearing little more than flip-flops and a tacky Hawaiian shirt, but it does not have to. With a little bit of tactical nous and perennial adherence to these guidelines, your opening work week could go swimmingly, or at least better than Penny Sparrow's:Fix your sleeping patterns: All of the nights spent watching re-runs of Law and Order until 3am have made you nocturnal. Sadly that is not an excuse your boss will accept when you come to work late.Your body is no longer used to needing to be somewhere before 10am or dealing with the virtue-forging joys of traffic. Do yourself a favour and start getting to sleep as close to 9pm as possible.The near 10 hours of sleep you will get from that will not just leave you feeling perkier than a librarian on ecstasy, but also teach your body that waking up at 10am is not nearly as cool as that Zac Efron movie you watched during the holidays made it seem.Expect the obvious: Somehow people are always shocked by things like large workloads and having to hand out seasonal compliments to everyone when they return to work. Sadly the world does not stop turning just because you are not at your desk, and the social contract requires that acquaintances must ask each other the same inane questions at the beginning of the year. Nod, smile, answer and get back to work. Isn't that what you are paid for?Wean yourself off: No one enjoys cold turkey. You have spent a couple of weeks luxuriating in free time and the irresponsible behaviours that come with that. Don't give that all up at once. Instead have a slightly boozy lunch if you spent your vacation fuelled by an ice-cold GnT. This goes for whatever other fun holiday thing you may have been doing. Just remember that you are (or trying to be) an adult and that means moderation...

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