Hey there, it's Susan PEIrce Thompson, and welcome to the Weekly Vlog. Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and you may be watching this vlog later into the future where Thanksgiving is not tomorrow. Maybe you're not in the United States, So Thanksgiving doesn't really apply to you. But I'm taking this occasion to finally, finally, finally shoot a vlog on post-event collapse syndrome, because Thanksgiving is tomorrow, but the day after Thanksgiving is coming right up after that. That's the day that I want to focus on now, not just the day after Thanksgiving, actually, but the weekend after Thanksgiving, the week after Thanksgiving, all of the time right after Thanksgiving. Because you know what? A while ago, as we stay really close to our Bright Line Eating? community, and we were keeping our finger on the pulse, we realized that the number of people who break their Lines the day after Thanksgiving actually seems to us to be greater than the number of people who break their Lines on Thanksgiving, which is so interesting, right?
Why would that be? You'd think that Thanksgiving day would be the day that people would cave and give in, but because of something called post-event collapse syndrome, it turns out the day after is often the day that people cave and give in to the food. Why would that be? What is post-event collapse syndrome or PECS? Post-event just means the day after, the few days after, the week, after the time period after, right? If it's maybe after a wedding or something, it could be like the month after, if you threw a huge wedding and got absolutely snowballed by the enormity of the prep and all that, it could be that post-event collapse syndrome could hit you for a whole month after the wedding. If the event is big enough. Post-event collapse syndrome can last quite a while. The post-event time period scales to meet the size of the event. The bigger the event, the longer post-event collapse syndrome is going to hit you.
An event can be anything. It's often travel. When we talk about PECS and travel, we're talking about the re-entry period for after you get home, which is usually quite intense. It involves a lot of unpacking and settling in, and your fridge is empty, so you've got to get to the store, and your email is a bunch of overgrown weeds that need tending to, and you need to do laundry and work is piled up. There's a lot that smacks you in the face when you get home from a trip. Post-event collapse syndrome hits, then it hits after holidays, it hits after anything stressful, any kind of major life event.
What do we mean by collapse? Well, what we mean is the collapsing of our resources, of our resilience, of our fortitude, of our willpower, of our willingness, maybe to work our program. The collapse is a state of depletion in the brain where after an intense period of willpower, exertion and vigilance, those circuits get exhausted and go into a more depleted state, and you just have less gas in the tank, less oomph to meet the next challenge. In the wake of an event like that, you're often left quite vulnerable. That's the collapse.
What do we mean by syndrome? Well, what it means is that it's an expected, pretty universal thing, right? Nothing to be ashamed about, nothing to take personally, it's a syndrome. It is common. It hits everybody, right? Post-event collapse syndrome.
In my opinion, the number one thing about PECS is just to know that it exists, to be aware of it, to be braced for it, and then to prepare for it a little bit. If you know in advance that the day after Thanksgiving is likely to be as hard as Thanksgiving Day itself, well, knowledge is power. Now, not to let your guard down because whew, you made it through. No, no, no. If it's the day after Thanksgiving, you haven't made it through yet, sweetheart, you haven't made it through yet. It's still time to keep your shields up and to be vigilant. The main thing is to know that it exists, and then you can prepare a little bit. What that might look like is first and foremost, having some spaciousness. Having some spaciousness. If you know yourself, for example, to be an extreme introvert, and you're going to a very intense family crowded Thanksgiving day, you might say, no, thank you to the very intense holiday shopping with 16 of your closest cousins the day after Thanksgiving. Maybe spending all day at the mall in long lines with crazy people and 16 cousins isn't how you want to spend the day after Thanksgiving. If you know Thanksgiving is going to be intense for you. That would be a post-event collapse syndrome, informed, no thank you. You might realize, yeah, that's not wise. Why don't I give myself the day off and just stay home and take a bubble bath?
Another thing you might do to prepare is have some food prep done in advance, chop some vegetables in advance, have things ready. I would strongly suggest that on the day after a holiday like Thanksgiving, you default to your most steady, predictable, safe, normal, delicious, comfortable food on your food plan. A lot of us have a breakfast that's kind of our go-to breakfast. We love it. It's delicious, but it's standard, absolute. It's, it's like your favorite, most comfortable T-shirt or clothes. It's what you know look good and feel good in. It's your default. If you know you want to look good and feel good, you're going to put on those jeans, that T-shirt, that outfit, whatever it is. Think about having a breakfast, lunch, and dinner that meets that criterion. That's absolutely your standard go-to typical safe meal that doesn't light up your brain in the slightest and go to that for a couple days after Thanksgiving. You might have a bunch of sexy leftovers in your fridge, whatever, but roasted butternut squash, whatever you got in your fridge from Thanksgiving, maybe have that, not the day after Thanksgiving, the day after. It's just a thought. Maybe eating those leftovers is fine for you, I don't know. But I'm just offering ways to protect yourself a little bit on the day after Thanksgiving.
Give yourself more support. Maybe have two or three Bright Line Eating friends lined up with committed calls where the day after Thanksgiving, you're going to sync up, see how their day was, see how they are, have a good connection. Maybe your study buddy group or your Mastermind Group could have a little powwow on Zoom or on a free conference call line the day after Thanksgiving. Think about ways that you can support, nourish, fortify, and replenish yourself on the day after Thanksgiving, and maybe that whole weekend. Just make it some really quality me time. Keep in mind that PECS is real. Once you know you're informed, you're empowered, and you can plan ahead, right? If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, and PECS is something to plan for.
Have a wonderful holiday. Have a beautiful Bright holiday. I'll see you next week. That's the weekly vlog. Lots of love.
