5 Ways to Cure Those End of Year Blues

Posted by NessWorld on Dec 22, 2009 in Health, Lifestyle | 4 comments

Don’t you think that the whole world goes crazy at this time of year?

The jingles, the songs, the music, the food. Aren’t these the exact reasons why people get depressed at this time of year?

Sometimes all the happy faced cheerful people who proclaim “It’s a wonderful, joyful time of year!!” leave you with nothing more than a strong desire to punch them in the guts.

The fact is that all this overboard so-called happiness and cheer is nothing more than hot air, false bravado, and some people would be more believable if they simply cut out a photograph of someone else and pasted it over their faces.

I’m not saying we should drop the whole idea of the holidays (Christmas, Hanukka or whatever you celebrate), but I am saying that we should be realistic about it. Maybe you AREN’T feeling it. You know what? That’s okay.

So often we get so bombarded with it, with the shops building up all their Christmas bling as early as October already. Then it’s the endless round of carols by candlelight and school concerts at the beginning of December.  Follow this up with the plethora of celebrity chefs and personalities showing you how to cook better, be better, look better, decorate better.

We mentally bludgeon ourselves if our own efforts do not live up to what the print magazines say they should look and be like.

Frankly I think it’s ludicrous to have one set of china and crockery that only gets hauled out on one occasion a year. Rather donate the money you would have spent on those decorative glittery table stars (that only clog the vacuum anyway) and the silver charger plates (a fancy name for what basically is nothing more than a place mat with delusions of grandeur) to a charity that really needs it.

I am not trying to kill the holiday spirit. Really, I’m not. I just think that humanity would be a lot better off if we could all just GET A GRIP.

People are tired at this time of year. Faced with enormous pressures, financially, physically and mentally. Then we have to go and raise the bar on ourselves and live up to some fairytale expectation that everything should be perfect and *happy* too.  Wouldn’t it be nice if everything could be perfect? Or at the very least better?

If you are not feeling the holiday spirit this year, I believe that the following steps could help you to feel better:

1.  Gratitude List

Make a list of things for which you are grateful. Even if you’ve just celebrated thanksgiving (I’m looking at my American friends here) this is something that we should all be doing everyday anyway. It doesn’t have to be a physical ‘sit down with a pencil and make notes’ kind of list, but maybe just make a mental list, when you wake up, or in the few minutes before you pass out exhausted in the evenings there are always things to be grateful for. You only have to look.

Doing this simple exercise helps you to really shift your priorities. You may be simply happy to have your immediate family all around you (or away for the holidays, depending on your relationship!). You may be grateful for your health, your kids, your dog, the roof over your head. Kind of makes the silver charger plates that you don’t have pale by comparison immediately right?

2.  Make  a List of Goals

Whoa there cowboy. Please do not for one minute think I am talking about new years resolutions, because we’ll deal with that ball of wax closer to the time. I mean make a list of goals that you’re hoping to achieve in your lifetime. Break them down into smaller steps. Remember a wise man once said (anybody know who?), “The man who moves a mountain, begins by carrying away the small stones.” Making a list of goals, and the steps required to achieve them, brings your vision for yourself into focus, and provides you with pathway with which to achieve them. Suddenly, they may not seem so impossible.

Spend some time daydreaming what it will feel like, when you’ve achieved that goal. Want to climb Kilimanjaro? Imagine yourself standing at the summit, raising your arms in joy at your achievement. Want to start your own business from home? Why not imagine making your first sale, or receiving your first payment? How exciting!

You’re feeling better already aren’t you?

3.  De-clutter your home and your life

A tidy room, equals peace and contentment. Take your old newspapers and magazines to the recycling centre, donate old books to a library, or an underprivileged school. Go through your email inbox and clear out the junk and read messages. Do your operating system a favour and clear your temporary internet folder and recycle bin out. Clear out your old clothes and either donate them to charity, or sell them to a second hand shop, you will be amazed by how clearing out old ‘stuff’ makes room in your life to let bigger and better things in.

4.  Volunteer

Yes, I’m talking to you. No need to look over your shoulder to see if I’m talking to the person behind you. There are few greater ways to be grateful for the things in your life, by spending a few hours volunteering to make things better for people (or animals) who have less than you. Find a soup kitchen to help at. Take some cupcakes to an orphanage, visit some old folks whose family have forgotten them, go and walk dogs at an animal shelter. The fastest way to feel happy, is to give other people happiness.

5.  If all else fails, seek humour

Laughter is the best medicine. So go and read the lolcats blog if you’re adamantly down in the dumps, because there is something on there for everyone. Cats, dogs, fails, celebs. You will absolutely find something funny enough for you to at least crack a smile.

Now, share your thoughts with me in that comments box below. What are you grateful for? How do you help yourself get into the swing of the crazy season?

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