October brings beautiful fall colours, Thanksgiving, Halloween, and seasonal affective disorder (SAD) for people like me. One of those is not like the others (i.e. it sucks). As you probably know (or can guess) seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is when you’re affected by the time of year. Some people like me are more affected in October and around the time the clocks change while others are more affected by the winter doldrums of January, February and March. If I asked, “When do you think the busiest times for therapists are?” I bet this gives you a pretty good idea: February, March, and November. I should point out that not everyone who comes in during the busy months have SAD. The cold and darkness have an effect on everyone; there’s just a few of us who are particularly affected… not to brag. Having SAD can feel like depression (i.e. it has the same symptoms), and can easily lead to having it because SAD knocks you down and if you don’t get up, you now have depression – SAD and depression are like best friends; it’s so cute. Having SAD basically means that at a certain time of year you’re suddenly drawn to being extra negative (i.e. you don’t enjoy things as much) with the temptation to over think the negative thoughts – it’s super fun. The added bonus is it becomes harder to get up in the morning – soooo fun. Sometimes the night can give a small reprieve since you can relax knowing you got through the day. This feeling suddenly disappears as you realize you have to go to bed and do it all over again. This can make you want to stay up later than you should, which, of course, will make the next day even harder to face because you’re so tired, but in the moment, staying up gives you more “relief” time, so it’s very tempting as negative thoughts make us focus more on how we feel now and not later.
This year I found my SAD was delayed because our fall weather was so nice – bonus. This is a huge bonus for me, especially since the stores filling up with Christmas lights and decorations help me feel happy. It’s like my negativity can’t compete with the positive energy I feel at Christmas and buying gifts for others. If anyone is going to have SAD, October is the best time for it because of Christmas being near (look at me being positive) unlike February or March where you’re left wondering when spring flowers will come. The benefit of having SAD (here’s some more positivity), is it helps keep me humble and it’s a continual reminder that I need to live as healthy a lifestyle as possible in order to be at my best for fighting it. The following are some of the things I try to do.
10 Tips to Combat SAD (& depression or grief)
- Have healthy routines in place: When things are good, we want to start doing healthy habits to limit how low we get when life falls apart. If you’re already low, you still need to start doing healthy routines to fight the low; it’s just harder to start them. The main benefit of a routine is it reduces thinking. This is important because thinking when we’re down leads to convincing ourselves not to do something healthy like exercise. I hate jogging, so I need to avoid thinking about what I’m about to do and just get out the door. This is easier when I have set times for doing this and I follow my routine.
- Be aware of it: As G.I. Joe taught, “Knowing is half the battle.” By knowing I get hit with negative feelings every October, I can be prepared for it and not think I’m crazy for feeling low when there isn’t a specific catalyst like a death in the family (grief has the benefit of our feelings making sense). Being aware of it also means I can do things to help reduce its effects. For instance, it was once recommended I take Vitamin C and D every day, which has been helpful. It could be a placebo effect, but either way it’s helped me.
- Fight temptation to use unhealthy coping tools: When we feel low, we’ll have increased temptation to do things that will make us feel relief in the moment, but will make it worse in the long run. Popular choices include drinking, smoking pot, binging TV and video games, lazing around, and eating junk. One of the worst things we can do is let ourselves skip work because we’re feeling down. Not only does that leave us more susceptible to over thinking and temptation to use the bad coping tools, it’ll make going the next day harder. Add in the missed work piling up and there’ll be an increased sense of doom. This is why I tell parents “Make your kids go to school!” Anxiety or feeling down aren’t excuses for not fulfilling our responsibilities. (“But Honey, I can’t change the baby’s diaper because of my anxiety,” never works for a reason.) Most feelings are only conquered when they’re faced head on. Avoiding things like school make it worse. We’re better off going and being proud of ourselves for doing something we needed to do. Feelings of pride and accomplishment are very important for fighting negativity.
- Have someone keep you accountable: Having a workaholic background (arguably one of the best addictions you can have), I have very high self discipline (a little too much at times). That being said, my wife is good for seeing things I miss and for making sure I don’t fall off my healthy path. It’s strange to say I’m on a healthy path when I’m suffering with SAD, but just because I feel low doesn’t mean I’m not being healthy. Having depression or anxiety doesn’t necessarily make you unhealthy; how you handle it does.
- Choose entertainment wisely: When we’re sensitive, what we watch has strong affects on our moods. During low periods, it’s better to watch comedies and movies with happy endings where the hero wins because we need to fill our brain with things that inspire and give us hope.
- Listen to uplifting music: Music can be incredibly influential. When we feel low we can be tempted to listen to somber music, but we’re better off listening to something with uplifting lyrics, a cheerful sound, or is empowering in some way. Empowering music can be harder rock that gets your blood flowing and fights feelings of weakness or it can worship music. Some songs I like include Ellie Holcomb “Stronger,” Zach Williams “Fear is a Liar,” Rhett Walker, “Alright,” and “All Joy,” and Building 429 “Fear No More.” More faith driven songs include Rhett Walker “Goodness of God,” David Crowder “He Is” and “Broken Hallelujah,” and Matty Mullins “What a Friend I have in Jesus” and “I’ll Show You the Cross.”
- Practice smiling and confidence: It’s been found if you force yourself to smile and walk with confidence you can feel a little happier and more confident. Smiling doesn’t have to be your favourite (I love Elf), but it should be part of your daily life.
- Vent: Venting is great for getting out emotions. When we feel really low, it’s good to do things physically to feel stronger like punching a punching bag or smashing stuff we’re allowed to break. We need to fight feeling weak and lethargic. This is why sports can be so helpful; it gets our blood flowing.
- Get out of your head: One of the temptations when we’re low is to think too much. If we have things to process, we’re better off talking or journaling because they’re both linear with a start and end. Thinking, on the other hand, causes our thoughts to bounce around and go weird places without any real end; we just spiral down. Getting out of our head is typically best experienced by being around other people even though we may “feel” like isolating ourselves.
- Practice positivity: One of the best routines I started was my thankful calendar. I’ve talked about this before, but it really is important. Every night before bed I write a list of ten practical things I’m thankful happened in that day from watching my favourite show to biting my tongue when I wanted to be rude to only one thumb being sliced open and sore instead of both. (Guess where that specific inspiration came from.) As a naturally negative minded person that is increased with my SAD, taking time to think positively is very important.
This week may you consider what healthy routines you can put in place to be better protected for when life falls apart.
Rev. Chad David, ChadDavid.ca, Learning to love dumb people (like me)