The holidays are officially over, and while the vacation time could mean different things to people — catching up on competitive sports, eating amounts of food, or finally visiting your uncle — one thing is almost universal: the sentiment of “oh no, I have to go to work again.”

It’s easy to understand why we get a little depressed at the thought of coming back to everyday life. The post-vacation blues, the depression after the holiday, can have actual health effects. A journalist and travel writer Nneka Okona says, “For me, the dejection (沮丧) starts around the last 24 hours of a trip. I feel really down and sometimes even teary.”

But if vacations are supposed to be a significant boon to our happiness and well-being, why do we break down afterwards?

Jeroen Nawijn, a psychologist at the Breda University, says that though people generally become happier on their days off, those benefits weaken quickly after returning home. “They most likely feel best during vacation because they have more freedom to do what they want.” he explains.

Suzanne Degges-White, a therapist, echoes this sentiment. “Once we get back into the work world, the majority of us have to deal with piles of work,” she says. She also indicates the difficulty of rejoining the work life lies in the fact that duties don’t disappear when we go on vacation. “They know that problems may have stacked up in their absence. ” Degges-White adds.

Thankfully, there are ways to ease the sentimental blues. “Thinking ahead could also include making a to-do list for your first week back, keeping your work and living spaces clean and organized for your return.” Degges-White says.

One more tip: start planning your next vacation right away. “The only thing that has continually worked for me is booking another trip as quickly as possible.” Okona says, “My blues are disappearing if I know I have something else to look forward to.” She also recommends grabbing a useful rather than decorative souvenir(纪念品) so that you have something to tie your new experiences with your life back home.

Prepare you better for the reality that awaits post-vacation. And if all else fails, you can always try working your memories to trick yourself into happiness ever after.

It’s no surprise to hear the honking of horns in New York. Whoever tries every day to get more than a few minutes of sleep in the morning in the city will tell you that he could do nothing about it! No one can deny honking of horns is just one of his most widely enjoyed pastimes.

But Andy, a Japanese website developer has had enough of it. Once, the 27-year-old man approached the open window to wait for the driver to finish honking, delivered a polite "excuse me" and then yelled " Ho-o-o-o-onk!", which means fierce anger in Japan. Then he threw three eggs from the window of his apartment on to a passing car honking loudly below when his patience was worn out. Instead of apologizing to him, the driver threatened to kill him angrily. So, nobly, Andy turned to non-violence. He started writing anti-honking haiku verses, a form of Japanese poetry, and submitted them to local newspapers:

Oh .forget Enron;

The problem around here is; All the damn honking (Enron: a major American company that recently caused a scandal because of corrupt(腐败) mismanagement)

"Then this kind of chain reaction started happening," Andy says. "All these other haiku started appearing unexpectedly" Andy’ s community is now covered in anti - honking poetry, written by all walks of life.       Patience slowly fades;

Residents store up their eggs; That day is coming soon.

It’s understandable that Andy has set up a website — www. honku. org — and now people from across the country send him news of their own anti - honking activities. It seems that poetry can change the world after all. Then, just recently, anti-anti- honking haiku started to appear, launched by locals who thought Andy should stop worrying about honking and start worrying about starving children, or war in the Middle East instead. Andy has an answer for that. "Stop me if this is too ridiculous ," he says," but they talk about the violence in the Middle East like it' s a force of nature, like it' s beyond our control. But actually it's kind of like the honking - the violence is man -made. If we can figure out how to stop honking on the streets, I think we could learn some things that we could use on a large scale. "