If you’re feeling yourself feel the slump of Seasonal Depression, you aren’t alone. Here’s how I’m using gratitude to combat it.
It’s that time of year when Daylight Savings is back and longer nights mean less sunshine which means mental health struggles. I don’t know about you but I’m feeling more exhausted, and less productive, and have already tried taking multiple depression naps in the middle of the day.
Luckily I have a few tools in my tool kit that help me deal with my seasonal depression. Because after all, I have it all year long. But something about this time of year makes it feel extra intense. Or rather, extra sluggish and down.
I love exercising when I can bring myself to do it. Particularly I get a reprieve from Yoga and I just love how it makes me feel. I feel happier and stronger. But any exercise will do. It really makes a huge difference. Changing my clothes every day, even if it’s changing my night pajamas into different daytime pajamas. Making my bed. Making sure I’m regular in my meditation routine. Taking walks to get extra doses of sunshine. But one thing in particular that helps me is focusing on gratitude.
When I experience depressive and intrusive thoughts, a lot of the time they are evil thoughts telling me where I should be in life, what I should have, and how my life should be. I compare myself to others. After all, how could I not? I’m assigned to my phone and social media and it's just automatic at this point. However, when I focus on what I have in my life, who I have in my life, and the fact that I have a roof over my head, it just puts things into perspective.
I have written a gratitude list in my notes app. Ideally, I like to read it every morning when I wake up and every evening before I go to bed because it grounds me and makes me feel happy. Though sometimes I forget and only read it once a day. I know it can be a bit of an eye-roll and I’m absolutely not saying that gratitude is a magical cure for depression but gratitude absolutely is magical.
And I know the holidays can be a very tough time and the world is a scary place right now. I just wanted to take a minute and thank everyone who is reading this and anyone who is supporting me and the Iridescent Scarab community on social media. I am so thankful to you. Lately, I’ve been finding such a therapeutic outlet in creating reels and posts, and using humor to cope with my mental health issues has been a game changer.
I hope everyone has a happy, healthy, and safe Thanksgiving. Sending all my love to those who are struggling.
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