Saturday, January 24, 2009
SAD
Every winter I struggle with SAD. It has gotten worse as I have gotten older, even as the steps I take to combat it. Moving south from Canada really helped for a few years but this year with the stress of my job and the economy, it has been a struggle. There is more pressure than I have ever had to deal with and it's unrelenting some days. Max has had to deal with the extra crankiness and sometimes there's nothing he can do. I already take extra vitamin D and Omega-3 vitamins. I've been using my blue light every morning at work. And I've been trying to make an effort to go to the gym more, even when I don't feel up to it. But... well, I keep hoping that as the days get longer that it will just go away for another year. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
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4 comments:
See your doctor. Antidepressants help with SAD. I was about your age when my depressions started getting worse. I resisted taking antidepressants for years because I thought taking them was a weakness. That was stupid, and things got much worse before I got any help. Depression can be a progressive disease. See a doctor soon, please.
My mom gets this too. She just got a light, and said it has helped. She makes sure she has an office/cubicle with a view of a window, and she has lots of plants. I'm not sure what the plants do to help exactly, but they need sunlight too :)
She also has a flexible work schedule so spends most of her morning out in the barn with horses and goats before she goes to work. She gets home in the dark, but the extra hours of doing something outside in the sun helps.
I'm sorry you're not feeling great. I hope you find a way to combat the winter blues.
Antidepressants may help with your SAD, but why take them if you don't need to? Have you ever gotten to know the Lord? He says amazing things like "in His presence is fullness of joy," and "cast your cares on Him because He CARES for YOU," and that "the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost!" That's good stuff. I'm a young, married mom of two and my natural tendency is to be blue a lot of times. I feel lost or like I'm out of place, or don't belong. It's hard to explain. But there's nothing that satisfies me more than knowing Him. He is my all. And remembering His love and goodness towards me is refreshing and looking to Him frees me from the captivity that sometimes comes from focusing on me and what I'm feeeeling. It's really about who HE says I AM. What HE thinks about me. He says I'm valuable enough to die for. Suffer for and even if I was the only one that would have benefitted from His dying on the cross, He would have still done it. These are the things that keep me. They give me a great hope. I know they are enough for you, too. I hope it helps you. Courtney in Ohio.
There are many causes for depression. If your spiritual life is out of whack, by all means address the issue and get right with the Lord. But I wonder why the Lord is so much harder to contact in the winter? ;) Pray AND see a doctor.
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