Ah!, I hate the transition from beach apparel to winter boots. Truly, I am grieving the vitamin D, being poolside with my baby and non-winter clothing.
Moving beyond my summer grieving, in this transition to fall and winter, I am reminded of a common fall and winter problem, depression.
This season may be an important time to be proactive and create a self-care plan, if you struggle with depression.
So let’s chat a bit on depression.
Here are some of the signs and symptoms of depression:
- Depressed mood
- Loss of interest
- Weight changes
- Sleeping problems
- Fatigue
- Concentration problems
- Guilt/worthlessness feelings
- Suicidal thoughts/attempts
Depression has many faces and can look different from person to person. It can bring out miserable feelings from the inside; such as, isolation, negative feelings, low motivation and sadness. Specifically for today, I would like to connect with the isolation and negative feelings.
In depression, so quickly you can find yourself, on an island with few people around you supporting you, understanding you and emotionally available to you.
If you struggle with depression, consider investing further into deep relationships as part of your depression self-care plan.
Far from deep relationships, most people have plenty of surface friends and plenty of surface conversations.
Surely, you have had conversations that go like this:
Hey! How are you?
Good! How are you?
Great!
Good to see you!
Yes, good to see you too.
The interaction is so mundane and unavailable for anyone to actually emotionally connect. Many have this very conversation, several times a day, on autopilot, without any actual engagement or connection. If these are the conversations that surround you, you simply cannot expect to feel or be supported and understood. If this is what most of your relationships are, I would imagine you do indeed experience some symptoms of depression.
Surface relationships and conversations allow few opportunities for people to hear, how you really are, validate your emotions and care for you. Surface relationships and conversations also, don’t let you return the favor to hear, validate and care for others. However, maintaining deep relationships and conversations keep you in touch with meaning and purpose in life.
Certainly, everyone has a desire to be heard and understood.
I tend to imagine the people around you desire and need the same things: to be understood, to be heard and to be supported.
So perhaps, instead of having your 10th surface conversation for the day, consider investing further, into some of your relationships and fostering a conversation that allows support, validation and a chance to be understood. Certainly, this can be one way to invest in taking care of yourself over the cold season.
Photo Credit: http://www.courtneyalyson.com
Mental Health & Journaling 