Christmas Alert! Beware of Christmas Challenges


Beware of Christmas coming! Honestly, I don't enjoy a lot of it. The stress over present giving, not only mine but everyone's elses too. The socializing exhausts me. Plus there is all of that 'holiday spirit' pressure to make you feel that there is something wrong with you if you are not happy about Christmas. And then there is the guilt over not loving Christmas. 

 Beware of Christmas coming. It is not 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year' for many, especially those of us who live with the challenge of depression. Apparently it is a stressful time of year for most people, for many different reasons.

 For us, we need to identify which part we find difficult and try to figure out ahead of time how to either avoid that part or cope with it using strategies.

So, what is your most challenging part of Christmas? Social? Financial? Family relationships? Food? Alcohol? Religion? Too many people? Not enough people? Have I missed something? Unhappy family life? Recent loss?

 For me the social part is the biggest challenge. I spend more time with people at Christmas and even though most of these people I love and enjoy, it is still people, and I am an introvert.

 Being an introvert means that I find being with people exhausting and being alone rejuvenating. And yet I would hate it if our grown-up kids came home to visit and only stayed for thirty minutes.

 I mean, I actually enjoy all of our time together, it is the afterwards that I must deal with. Either I will be manic from all of the excitement and after manic comes a crash and then depression. Or I will be so exhausted from all of the peoplizing that I will go straight into depression.

 What's a girl to do? For me REST is the usual therapy. REST before they come and REST immediately aftet they leave, even if I am manic, rest!

 So, beware of Christmas coming!

 There are many terrific articles out there on how to make Christmas less stressful.

"Tips for a Stress Free Christmas" discusses family comfort, work smarts, social planning, positive partying, body care plus some 'December doctrine' as it applies to everyone, because we who have mental illness are not the only ones who find Christmas stressful.

 Now these "15 tips for a Stress Free Christmas" apply specifically to mental illness.  I am not going to give you a list here. However, be smart, plan ahead, be kind to yourself. Figure out just what is difficult about it all for you personally, and then if there is some way you can minimize that, do it. Don't be a victim of your own poor planning at this stressful time of year.

 And since we are talking about Christmas, it seems a good time to talk about food. Food can play such a big part in maintaining a good mood balance. And so for the next few posts, we are going to review some good information about food at Christmas. We all love to eat right? So don't miss it!

 WHAT ABOUT YOU? How are you feeling about Christmas coming? Is there anything you can do to take control of the stress factors involved?

 There is hope for depression.

 Don't give up!


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