Friday, January 15, 2010

Most Depressing Day of the Year

Have you heard that January 21 is considered to be the most depressing day of the year?!? Experts explain that by the 21st of January, bills from the holidays are piling up, New Year's resolutions are waning, and people have little to look forward to until summer. What can you do if you are finding yourself with the winter blues?

1. Resolution Make-Over:
Even if your resolution was to go to the gym EVERY day, and you've only been once in the last week, try to keep moving. Take a walk around the block, do crunches or lift weights while watching television. Instead of setting such a high expectation of going to the gym EVERY day, set a more realistic goal, like going 2 times a week. If you happen to go more, then great. Once you feel good about 2x a week, then you can up it to 3-4x a week. Often where people go wrong on resolutions is they set the bar too high and then give up quickly when they don't achieve their goals. Movement also helps relieve depression.

2. Feeling out of control on your finances?
Set a budget. Again, like with resolutions, if you blow it the first week, that's okay. It's rare people can follow a totally new financial regimen without slipping up. Look at what happened and try again, but I must warn you, it may take a few months before you are truly following the new budget you set January 1. Be patient with yourself.

3. Be part of your community:
Continue to make plans with friends. During January and February, we tend to stay inside more because of the cold weather, which leads us to socialize less and feel more lonely. Force yourself to leave your house and meet a friend for happy hour or dinner. If it's just too cold for you, call someone you haven't spoken to in a while or SKIPE with someone. SKIPE is free and allows you to use you computer as a long distance video phone.

4. The basics:
Make sure you are eating healthy, drinking enough water, and sleeping 6-8 hours. When we forget about these basics, we quickly start to slide down the depression hill.

1 comment:

  1. This is a great list. I am going to concentrate on #3 and #4 in anticipation of January 21.

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