Beating the Holiday Blues

November, and the holidays begin. Thanksgiving, the holiday of outrageous binge-eating--and to my oft-negative eyes-- outrageous UNthankfulness (definitely not a word). December rolls about, a "taffy" of a month, or a month that seems to be chewed and stretched and endlessly gnawed at until it finally ends and the prize is received. In this case, the prize of December to my, again, negative eyes is the end. 

As can be deciphered from the above exhibit of ultra-offensive negativity that can be classified as ultra-teenager, I'm not the most positive human being. I have had bouts with depression, which to the naked eye can seem like regular teenage misery. However, depression is not the occasional teenage blue day. My depression can be categorized as a "taffy", except there is no reward at the end. It's endless blue days, where there is absolutely no relief. Anxiety is another issue. Loud noises, cramped spaces, and excited children are just a few triggers of my inexplicable but definitely present stress. 

Believe me when I say, I know I am not the worst-off person in the world. There are many people in the world that face much tougher challenges than what I face. Nevertheless, this is my journey.

The holidays usually leave us with a joyful feeling-- a high of sorts. But every high has a doubly horrible hangover. How do we keep our holiday high going for longer?

Well, short answer is, we never get high in the first place.

Viewing our lives as a graph that moves up and down over time, like a stock market visual, is incorrect.

In reality, our lives are a constant black line, never wavering. Life never gets better or worse.This sounds absolutely terrible at first, I know. But instead of letting life choose your lows and your highs, view your life in your control. You choose when you have high moments, and you choose when you have low moments. Life never deals you a better or worse hand than the guy next to you, we all are given the same set of cards to play with. Christmastime is definitely a high point, why wouldn't it be? But why do we have to have those post-holiday blues, when our life is a never-ending "taffy" of high moments? As humans, we can either choose to always stay positive, negative, or bounce back between the two. 

This essay has been great in principle, but not in practice (which is often the case with anything self-help). How do we stay in the high moments? Focus on everything good. Write down 3 things you're grateful for, or that made you happier throughout the day, and you will statistically (yes, studies have been done) be happier! Or just do as I do, and have a Happier account! Happier is a community of just Happy moments! You can even take their course which starts at the beginning of 2014, which should definitely help with the post-holiday blues here. 

Happy On!