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The dreaded holidays are upon us. The stress and discomfort of having to interact with so many people and smile when you don’t feel like smiling is a constant worry. The financial expectations and obligations that you feel compelled to fulfill are looming. If this is the gloomy view of the holidays that you entertain, you may be experiencing a form of depression that is very prevalent during this time of the year.
It is not necessarily a clinical depression that needs to be treated with medication or therapy, but it should be addressed in a healthy manner. The key here is to identify these emotions as temporary, only associated with the holidays. If they persist past the holidays then we may be looking at clinical depression.
But assuming that these feelings manifest themselves only around this time of the year, here are 3 tip to get you through.
It is not necessarily a clinical depression that needs to be treated with medication or therapy, but it should be addressed in a healthy manner. The key here is to identify these emotions as temporary, only associated with the holidays. If they persist past the holidays then we may be looking at clinical depression.
But assuming that these feelings manifest themselves only around this time of the year, here are 3 tip to get you through.
- Manage your time wisely. This season is just that, a season. Although you may feel that there is too much you have on your plate, you can approach it the way a diner approaches an overfilled plate of food. Eat what is in front of you and palatable to you, leave back the rest. Take one bite at a time and focus on what you have already committed to chewing.
- Take care of yourself. Your investment in your self-care is necessary if you are going to be of benefit to those you care about and who care about you. Rather than being selfish, some down time to engage in healthy activities that nurture you (reading a book, going to a game, or just playing a video game) may help you feel more energized for that day of gift shopping that you feel you need to do. If you don’t see your own worth it is unlikely you will be able to see the worth in those around you.
- Revisit those things that you feel obligated or compelled to do. Make a list of them and journal why you don’t want to do them. Who is the one “making you” spend so much money. Who is going to be angry at you if you don’t go to your in-laws house? What is the worst case scenario if you “rebel”? Will relationships be irrevocably broken, will you fail at your career and perhaps lose your job or will your spouse leave you? Sometimes when we step back from a problem we see that we have adopted a catastrophic view on things that are not in and of themselves so catastrophic. You may not be able to put aside all your perceived obligations, but there may be one or two on your list that you can let go of and free up energy to engage in the ones that are more rigid.
