Beating The “Winter Blues”
Was anyone else glad to see the end of the “holiday season”? I almost feel guilty about saying this, but I’m so happy to see the end of it. It seems that life shifts into high gear sometime in November and simply rockets along until the new year. It’s not till around the middle of January before I take a deep breath and realize life is getting back on a calmer track.
Maybe it’s the intensity I react to. Yes, I enjoy (most of) the activities of the holiday season. But everyone seems to want everything to be perfect and expectations often don’t translate into reality. People seem to try too hard to be happy, to be invited to all the right occasions, to host successful events, to love everyone. All that “trying” takes a lot of effort and energy, and the result is exhaustion.
And we do all this in the dark! Where I live, it’s dark outside when I get up and go to work, and it’s dark when I go home. Even when it’s not dark, the days tend to be gloomy. Now that the days are beginning to get longer and the sun is back—occasionally, at least—I’m having thoughts of spring and my mood is lifting!
What does this all mean? My doctor says it’s a function of seasonal affective disorder—the “winter blues”—and it’s very common. It does make the idea of a long winter’s nap very appealing, however. Be that as it may, I have to remind myself every winter that this too will pass and sun will shine on the world again! Bring on the daffodils…
— Lyn Policha, Policy Analyst, WJS Canada