Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Every day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the thirtieth day of the month is "Depression."
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What are your go to activities for the end of the holiday season to fight off that post-celebration depression?
Do you reflect on the year behind you? The ups and the downs? Creating lists of the things you've done?
Do you anticipate the year ahead of you? Make goals? Plan trips? Start creating your planner pages?
Do you just relax after the last few weeks of busy? Do a jigsaw puzzle? Spend endless hours on the couch with your sleeping cat? Read?
Do you fill your hours with activities? Take your dog for endless hikes as she gets muddier and muddier? Taking down holiday decorations? Catching up on cleaning that has long been neglected?
What do you do during this time of year?
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| It turned warm! Mid-50s. All the snow is melting and Hannah is a muddy mess. Can you even see the camouflaged dog? |
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Random anecdote #1:
We do drawings to see which aunt and uncle will buy for each of our nieces and nephews. Among others, we got our super emotionally savvy eight-year-old girl.
(Once she told me that I would look nice if I wasn't wearing tennis shoes. I rarely wear tennis shoes outside of actual exercise, but my leg was being bad that day. This girl KNEW it would hit me right where it hurt. She's super smart. And, also, I might be traumatized from this exchange with her.)
She had a conversation with her mom on the drive on Christmas morning. "I bet Aunt NGS will get me jewelry. I've never seen her without a bracelet on."
Cut to Christmas morning when she opens a craft kit, a book about gymnastics, and a bracelet. This damn sweet child knows me better than I know myself.
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Random anecdote #2:
Somehow Dr. BB stepped in poop and tracked it from our dining room, up the stairs, to the office. I was busy on a Zoom call, so I came to this as I soon as I saw him take out a flashlight and start examining our floor very closely. I asked him what was happening.
"I stepped in Zelda poop. It was on my slipper. I'm trying to find the original source."
Now, both of our girls are very good about their bathroom habits. Hannah's only accidents have been when she was sick. Zelda always uses her litter box, but she's very fuzzy and occasionally things will cling to her butt fur and we'll find it in places that are not her litter box. Anyway.
"Are you sure it was cat poop?" (I was thinking that perhaps it was a mouse or something else that might have crept into our house.)
"Well, it's either cat or human poop."
Cut to me staring at him with my mouth open. He'd blame ME before he even considered THE DOG?!
True love. True love, you guys.
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To see what Bestest Friend wrote about the theme of the day, go visit her at Too Legit to Quit.
It sounds like you are struggling a bit, Engie. I'm sorry to hear this. For me, this week has been all about resting and enjoying. We are doing a (really challenging) puzzle, I've been reading a lot as well. I have watched a few movies and I plan on watching one more. Then, on Sunday I'm taking down the decorations and doing a big clean of the house.
ReplyDeleteI do like to reflect a bit on the year that has passed, as well as some things that are upcoming. This is going to be a big year of change for me, and so I am trying to deal with it by taking it one step at a time.
Oh, I didn't mean for it to sound so bad. I'm doing FINE, really. It's been lovely to have time to do all of the above and I'm actually feeling pretty good about all of it!
DeleteI will eagerly await to see how this year goes for you with its changes and newness.
I don’t really look backward or forward. My introspection , if it can even be said to be that, always seems to be current.
ReplyDeleteWe should maybe all aspire to be like you!
DeleteI see your camouflaged dog--she's really good at that!
ReplyDeleteI have Seasonal Affective Disorder, and it's awful during the winter when it's so gloomy and grey in long stretches. A Happy Light helps somewhat, but not always. Today, once it stops raining, I'll be out walking. Tackling one small organizational project a day, like a closet, cupboard, or drawers, is also helpful. If there's snow to shovel, I like to do that. But very often, I find myself adrift a bit, sometimes knitting, sometimes doing a few crosswords. Winter is hard for me.
Yes, I do my SAD lamp therapy every morning. It's hard to say if it helps or not at this point, but it certainly does wake me up, so I continue to do it when it's dark all the time. I'm outside every day at least a couple of times with the dog, so I do my best to try and get some natural light when I can.
DeleteI don't have post-holiday depression, but I do have seasonal depression from Thanksgiving to New Years. When I was single it was pretty severe, and now it's a mild low energy feeling. The biggest thing that helps me is knowing that it's temporary and that it will magically lift in the first week of January. Back when it was bad, a therapy lamp helped to take the edge off. Now my strategy is just to roll with it. I don't make any grand plans for the last part of the year and just hang back with my family. Jigsaw puzzle benders are common as well.
ReplyDeleteYour poop story is priceless!
That poop story is going to go down in the history books as one of our best moments in marriage, I can already tell!
DeleteHA! That poop punchline is amazing. I hope you found the source! Tracking poop through the house sounds awful.
ReplyDeleteAnd what a great photo of Hannah. She looks very wild.
I don't know that I get post-holiday depression -- at least, I don't have it this year. I am feeling quite cozy and happy, doing a lot of nothing. But I am also feeling a semi-repressed burst of cleanliness that will only be satisfied once Christmas has been boxed up for another year. I'm trying to decide if my family would disapprove if I started putting away decorations that don't involve the tree... Maybe I can do it a bit at a time so they won't notice.
We never did find the source. We both presume Z had a bit on her fur and it dropped somewhere in the bathroom where Dr. BB picked it up on his slipper. We went through his walk up the stairs, marking each place where he stepped and there was visible poop with a Post-It note, and then we cleaned it all up. It wasn't too big a deal because Dr. BB figured it out so early, but it was so funny that he considered me as a culprit before the dog. I guess because Hannah isn't allowed in that bathroom, but STILL.
DeleteOh man, I hope you found the source of the poop!!
ReplyDeleteSo I am not prone to depression at this time of year. I don't get sad when Christmas is over, generally. I'm usually very happy to get back to "normalcy" - whatever that means when you have young kids. And I get big energy about the new year when there is a shiny, fresh planner to mark up. Plus I have a few things I am looking forward to in the first part of the year. But I will likely struggle around February when winter really starts to get to me and I just want it to be over but know it's far from over. I imagine our job search/career uncertainty isn't helping right now. But the job market will hopefully pick up in January. Nov-Dec is a horrible time to look for a job as budgets aren't solified and so many people are out so hiring decisions take forever!!
The job thing is a bit of a worry, but I basically haven't looked in two weeks, so who knows what will happen in the coming year? I can't worry about it too much or I'll lose my mind!
DeleteWow, Hannah wins at hide and seek in plain sight!
ReplyDeleteI don't have as bad a winter depression in Florida as I did in Massachusetts, so the weather is definitely a feature for me (and not something easily changed, I know). For me, having something to look forward to makes a big difference, and as I have a trip at the end of January, I have so far been able to head off post-holiday letdown by thinking about that. (One leg of the trip is on Southwest; do we think they will have themselves put back together by Feb 1, or should I be making other plans? Discuss.) I wish you well coping with your own seasonal glooms.
You're probably right that I should put something on the calendar to look forward to. I'm just uncertain about traveling when I don't have a job, so whatever I put on the calendar will have to be budget friendly!
DeleteEngie, I have a whole blog post coming up on this topic! Depression- not poop. The reason I live in Florida is because of the SAD I experienced up north, but even here I get depressed when Christmas is over. So far this year it's been better than usual (I used some tactics which I'll go into in my upcoming post) but it's always lurking. I would love to know what other people do- it's always a challenge for me.
ReplyDeleteFor me, it really is about my SAD lamp and keeping busy. If I have a list of things to do every day, it really pushes me to do something besides stay in bed all day. Seasonal depression is really tough, but I think this post somehow made it seem as if I'm doing worse than I really am! I can't wait to read your post, though, and hear about your strategies.
DeleteI always struggle after Christmas; the anticipation and coziness of the season ward off depression...but then January hits and it is three cold, dark months of winter to go. I do think I've found better coping mechanisms, as simple/easy as they can sound: turning up the heat in the house so I'm not as cold, investing in heated outside gear, getting outside everyday, lighting candles at night and using lots of soft lighting. Another BIG one for me is to get some one-on-one social interactions. Group settings almost always drain me of energy, but I really get a boost from going out for coffee with one friend, for example.
ReplyDeleteThis year we're blasting into January with a big weekend of overnight company; while it takes a lot out of me in terms of energy, I also think it is helping keep some of the post-Christmas blues at bay. And then when January comes, I'll take it one day at a time. I know there will be some "down" days, but I feel a lot better knowing something as simple as lighting a candle or taking a short walk around the block can have a dramatic positive impact.
Getting outside daily is so crucial. I grew up in a cornfield and there were no sidewalks and it wasn't safe to walk on the road, so I was always inside. It wasn't until I went to college that I realized a) where I lived was very grey during the winter and b) being able to safely spend time outside is a game changer!
DeleteI hope your time with company goes well and everyone has a great time!
I can't say I struggle with seasonal depression. On the contrary, I think I actually kind of like to lean into the darker, quieter days in January/ February, after all of the madness of the holidays are over. I do love Christmas, so I sometimes get a twinge of sadness when the Christmas music goes away. But like I said, then I sort of pivot to the "freshness" of the new year, new goals, ideally some quieter times, and generally I end up busy anyway planning ahead to spring break travels or something like that. And with kids, you literally have to start planning summer activities/camp signups by JANUARY these days (ugh, I hate this!), so I feel like we are forced to start thinking "spring/summer" before I'd even really like to. I also feel like we actually get a quite a lot of sunny days in Wisconsin?! Maybe my perception is off, but I feel like it's sunny so much of the time. Or at least partly sunny.
ReplyDeleteWe are definitely sunnier here in Wisconsin. WI has about 185 days of sun/partly sunny a year, but Grand Rapids (the nearest city to where I grew up) has only 160 and only 64 of those are sunny days. 25 extra days a year can really add up!
DeleteIf I had to start planning summer activities in January, my hypothetical children would go to no camps! LOL. I'd be a terrible parent.
I don't have seasonal depression (it was 72 and sunny today, so Florida is bad at many things, but giving us great weather this time of year is not one of them!), but I do struggle at the beginning of the year. The holiday season is my favorite time of year and I just love all of the traditions that go along with it. But then it's over and there's this whole new year to contend with, and I don't have any fun holidays or vacations to look forward to for many, many months. And this year, I'm not even sure if I'll be taking any fancy vacations since I need to focus on my savings goals. I'm trying to do my best to stay present, enjoy the little things, and get outside and into the sunshine when I can. Also: extra therapy appointments when necessary. :)
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't call it holiday depression, but I do get a little melancholy when the holidays are over... it's that weird period when the holidays are over and the new year hasn't started... but I also embrace the time to unwind and reflect (which often feels good).
ReplyDeleteI did spot Hannah, but she's good at blending in ;)
I cannot believe your husband suspected human feces before dog poop in the house. How in the world does he think that could have happened? LOL