Let's Beat Those SAD Blues

Winter is coming

Seasonal Affective Disorder (better known as SAD) - is essentially a form of depression, which often comes paired with anxiety - all induced by the autumn and winter months. The days get shorter, nights get longer and the sun is a rare occasion. While I love how cosy everything gets in the colder months - it doesn't like me. It becomes 1000x harder to get out of bed in the morning, I find myself having little motivation to do anything and bunk off social interactions to stay in the warmth and comfort of my own home.

Roughly 1 in 15 people are effective by SAD in the UK between the months of September and April - I often find mine hits hardest in mid October when you start work in the dark and finish work in the dark, and eases a lot in March when we have those first hints of Spring. While the winter brings a lot of festivities with it - Christmas, my birthday, valentines...it also brings cold, miserable weather. Even when we do occasionally get blessed with snow - it eventually makes everything 10 times more annoying.

I thought I'd share 5 ways in which I try to combat the winter blues.

1. Avoid Stress

Okay so this is as easy as it seems - I should know I seem to constantly be stressed at the moment. I can just feel the grey hairs sprouting by the minute. However I also find stress makes me recluse into myself, make me work myself harder and I stress quite ofter about lacking motivation so force myself to do stuff. I then end up burnt out. I'm somebody that gets stressed easily, so to avoid it I try to stick to only working 9:00 - 5:30 Monday - Friday and then fill my evenings and weekends doing things I enjoy. Whether that is blogging, going to the gym, reading or just putting on a Netflix show and binge watching it.

2. Anti-Depressants Aren't Always A Bad Thing

I'm not a stranger to anti-depressants. I've been off and on them for the past 4 nearly 5 years, when I first went on them I thought I was weak - turns out I wasn't. There are a lot of people out there that take anti-depressants, for me they just help to level out my mood and I'm not ashamed to take them. Last year I was prescribed a high dose of citalopram and I ended up taking myself off earlier this year because I didn't feel I needed them anymore - but if I need them again to get through the winter then I'm not ashamed to take them. Only you can decide if medication is the right path for you - but don't be ashamed if you need a helping hand.

3. Make The Most Of The Sun

While daylight hours are limited - they need to be embraced. Use your lunch break to pop out for a 10 or 15 minute walk to get some daylight. Make the most of the weekends by heading out, explore new locations and soak in all the vitamin D you can get. In the summer I can apply stay in for a couple of days in a row - but in winter I find myself itching to go out and make the most of the daylight. Particularly this year as I'm putting a lot more effort into my blog content which means weekends will be filled with outfit shoot and chasing the daylight.

4. Bubbles, Vino & Candles

I'm a shower person for a majority of the year but as soon as the cold weather rolls around I'm running myself copious of bubble baths, pouring a glass of wine and filling my bathroom with candles. For me it's the perfect way to 1. warm up and 2. unwind and relax both my mind and my muscles. Plus bubble baths are a great excuse to use up any shower gels you still have hanging round from last Christmas in preparation for any this year.

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5. Coffee dates are the new nights out

I'm not much of a party animal anymore - but I do enjoy a good trip to the pub with friends. However, unless you can find a pub nearby that has a good log fire and is in walking distance then count me out. Instead I'd rather meet up for a coffee, have a good gossip and stay in the warm. Plus by going for coffee it means I can drive and belt out some tunes on the drive. Plus coffee is a lot cheaper than a night out - save those pennies for a sunny holiday!

SAD is not something to be ashamed of - we all have good and bad days. We just have to power on and find the light at the end of the tunnel. This isn't Game Of Thrones, winter will pass in a matter of months...and we'll soon all be complaining that it's too hot to sleep again!

photography

All photos within this post were taken by Alex on my Olympus Pen E-PL7 with 25mm lens in natural lighting. They were then edited on Lightroom CC.

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