Post-Holiday Blues

Post-Holiday Blues affect between 10 -25 million people.

You have made it through the holidays one more time. The two-month "build-up" of unrealistic expectations combined with the extra demands on your time, energy, and finances have set you up to crash and burn after the last of the holiday decorations have been put away. Add the pressure of New Year's resolutions, and you have all the ingredients for a major depression ... or at the very least, the Post-Holiday Blues.

Winter's shorter days and colder weather brings its own stresses to the mix. The lack of sunlight can act as the Pied Piper of Post Holiday Blues. It leads millions of people down the road to the River of Blues. We are left huddled in our homes against the cold and gray days with the excitement of the holidays fading into a mere memory. Then, the credit card bills start coming in. The light is dim. The excitement is over. The guests have gone home, and that little child inside of all of us is sad because Christmas is always grander and more magical in our imaginations than in reality. As adults, sometimes we are no better at handling disappointments than our children. Is it any wonder we just can't seem to "snap out of it?"

This year has one more component for feeling blue. It's the new millennium. The beginning of the rest of our lives. It is the start of something big and exciting, and we had better make something of it! What pressure! It is time to make that long list of New Year's resolutions, only to have them fall by the wayside one after another. I can hear the Pied Piper already. It is time to make positive changes in our lives and stop setting ourselves up for failure.

Instead of making a list of New Year's resolutions, choose the most important one. For example, you may choose to loose the ten pounds you gained over the holidays. Fashion your resolution in a manner that promotes success instead of failure. If your resolution is to give up junk food, the moment you take one bite of a donut you have failed. You have broken your resolution. Once again, you are a failure. Instead, change your resolution to one of eating a healthier diet. If and when you slip off the wagon, pick yourself up, dust off the powered sugar, and get right back on that wagon. Tell yourself, "I'll do better tomorrow," and "It's just a simple setback." The moment you kick yourself when you're down, you'll find yourself down more often than not. Re-word (or reprogram) your resolutions to optimize your chances for success.

Get busy making plans for the future. Start planning for your next vacation, a mid-winter party, your spring garden, or start a new hobby. We spent hours planning parties, preparing delicious meals, and making sure everything was "just perfect" over Christmas. Suddenly, the holidays have passed, and we're left wondering what's next? There is a let-down period after any big event that required attention to details. However, by looking ahead and making future plans, your attention is diverted from the past and devoted to new goals and opportunities. Now is a great time to take a class, connect with long-lost friends, or do some volunteer work. Helping others takes your focus off yourself. Many people offer help during the holidays, but the need for volunteers continues long past "the season for giving".

If you suffer some type of depression every winter, you may have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). This condition leaves one feeling "blue" during winter, followed by non-depressed periods in the spring and summer. Research has determined that the lack of sunlight affects levels of melatonin, (a hormone) in our system. Some researchers even believe that a lack of sunlight disrupts circadian rhythms, which regulate your body's internal clocks. If you feel run down, tired all the time, experience a loss in pleasure and/or appetite seem to be sleeping more, you may need to seek professional help to get over the winter blues. ChangeforGood.com CAN help.
(Get the free report on Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

If you think you may have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), there are some lifestyle changes you can make that will help:

• Add lamps or skylights to increase the amount of light in your environment. Full-spectrum light bulbs are readily available at stores or on the Internet.

• Connect with people. Now is not the time to wallow in loneliness. Take a walk whenever the sun is shinning. Connecting with nature is renewing and refreshing to our souls.

• Get plenty of exercise during the winter months. Exercise stimulates endorphins, which increase energy.

• Eat a healthy, balanced diet with fewer carbohydrates and drink plenty of water.

• Listen to self-help tapes or books and meditate.
  We offer Rise Above Depression - Feel Free Again and other tapes in our Audiotapes section.

• Use cheery colors and/or silk flowers to brighten your home.

• Celebrate the change of seasons. Make a list of what you enjoy about each season and focus on the positive.

• Acknowledge and express your feelings. Journaling is very helpful. Take time each day to enjoy life.

• Most importantly, remember that this too shall pass. Spring is just around the corner. Begin counting down the days or weeks until spring.
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