December 26, 2005
-
Holiday Blues
This time of the year the holiday blues can really set in. People feel down this time of the year. For some, they are experiencing their first holiday without a special love one. Someone they know is not there to share in the holiday fun. The idea of going through the holiday season without your mom or your dad is difficult to handle. I have a close friend who always struggles around the holiday season because she lost her son a few years back.
For others, it is the stress of the season. They have tried to accomplish so much and all of a sudden everything has come to a halt. They realize in that break in the action that they are not moving in the right direction.
Still others come to the realization that they are alone. As I have responded to comments today, I have read several blogs that have communicated a feeling of loneliness. For some, the holidays are not so happy.
What do you do to fight the holiday blues?
Comments (101)
1
i don’t guess i have them….it is sort of a let down after they are over
i just get back into routine as fast as possible
Fake the funk. Force yourself to be happy and surround yourself with ppl so your mood with be livelier …hhmm, is livelier a word? or am I mispelling it?
You just gotta stay positive!
Get plenty of sunlight and exercise. Look to those that depend on me and that gets me going again.
I don’t usually get them. Guess I haven’t had enough negative experiences around then to have them.
Surround yourself with good friends.
RYC: I did! I hope you did as well!
Things are not okay for me…I’m feeling pretty shitty. I got super drunk last night and I’m sure I acted a fool to my bf. I remember him saying hurtful things, just as I am sure I did the same. I hope everything gets better for me soon, if not…I’ma get depressed and experience this Holiday Blues youre talk about. =/
I dunno I’ve never had holiday blues.
OMG, I can’t believe I made it into the top five on your site! I’m usually like #158 or something.
Surround myself with family.
Summer
I sleep.
But I usually don’t get the ‘holiday blues’. I really haven’t lost people that I’m really close to, unless it’s friendships that have died. I feel a deep sense of relief after Christmas is over. The stress is over. The New Year is close and with that comes re-evaluating where my life is and how I want it to change.
Spend time with friends and listen to music that isn’t christmas music!
Amanda
Just accept them if they come…and let them pass….
Drink. I just bought “The Sims 2″ so I can live out other people’s lives and forget my own. That helps.
I hate the holidays thankfully they are over with and I then I won’t be so depressed!
I don’t usually get down around Christmas. It’s surprising because my mom’s mom died on Christmas when I was 6. I guess it helped that my parents (especially my mom) didn’t give into the sadness and always made Christmas a joyful time.
I’d have to say surrounding yourself with family and friends is important to keep from feeling down. It’s when I’m alone that I can manage to feel the worse.
I felt lonely and sad because our family never really eat dinner together anymore.. we don’t celebrate holidays…
I’ll find a friend and talk.. or just sleep.. or go out by myself.
I listen to alot of music, and try to take my mind off my loneliness. Sometimes it helps…Most often not. I just don’t know anymore.
Ryc: Things are going ok. I hope all is well with you =)
Today everyone at my house has the holiday grumps. they’re all handling it by trying to ruin what was goign to be a spectacular week.
Obviously, the grumps are contageous
lol, noooo youre not causing holiday blues. Its just kinda wacky how my world turned upside down on xmas and here the day after, you talk about it. New Years is about to creep up and I’m scared I’m going to be be alone and feeling blue, then. And, the thing is, I’m thinking of what I can possibly do to make it right, to avoid being sad. However, my own advice wont help me since my situation deals with my bf. And if hes not a part of my life, theres nothing that can make me happy. At least not yet, not anytime soon. =*(
whoa, I took like 4 mins to type that and it popped up to 21 comments when it was just at 14.
oh, and about that “sleeping,” it’s because dreams are adventurous and fun. they really give you that wonderful feeling.
RYC:
I know. Hanging out at Ma’s. Those were the good ole days.
I was excited to be in your top five. That means I was faster than the other 157 people that usually beat me. I’m doing good tonight!
I really don’t get them either.I’m sure that’ll all change when I get old enough to be out on my own and such. though.
im fortunate to be able to say i dont really get holiday blues because of the death of a loved one. but my birthday is the day after chrstmas so i get alot of stuff and then its kinda a let down when i realize its over and i have to wait another year to get gifts. it sounds childish but i dont make a big deal of it
I don’t really have them. I guess I would probably just try to appreciate the things and people that I do have in my life and try to remember the good times that I did have with the people who are no longer with me.
most of my blues come before the holidays because in ohio its normally cold and wet and snowy and the suns never out and i cant go anywhere really or do anything
I don’t get them to often, but whenever I am feeling down I simply decide I’m going to be happy. Most the time it works, haha.
Gosh, I asked the same question on my site, yesterday…and I WAS fighting those blues a bit. Well, prayer is helpful, and to seek God’s wisdom and guidance. You know, what does the Almighty want to teach me through this situation?
sleep.
Television. Yep; really. If I’m feeling lonely, I turn to the ol idiot box. At least you forget how lonely you are for a few hours. It’s either that or volunteer work. Both are better than other options, like drugs or something.
i drink myself into a stuper with family and sing kareoke…
I don’t have them, but if I did I would probably remember that God still loves me. I would just try to find joy in some little things.
What I did tonight. M and I did a Girls’ Night Out roadtrip to a Mexican restaurant with my best friend and her two teenage daughters. After the holiday, away from the stress of family melodrama, it was a riotous night of food, fun and laughing.
I remember what I’m celebrating. If its Christmas, I tell myself how fortunate I am to have a God who would send his own son to day for me. It helps, but if the blues still got me, I shop or find a distraction of some sort.
eat donuts, mmmmm
peace max
My cousin is spent her first Christmas w/o her firstborn who wdied in a car wreck in April.
So sad.
Personally, I pray
((( GRANDMA HUGS )))
Lori
I try to focus on the things that I do have instead of what I don’t have, the people that are no longer with us, and I never stress myself out on the Holidays. All the spending and pretentiousness don’t define the Holiday for me. I cannot imagine losing a child, or even my mother, but I do know that my mom would not want me to mope around or to be sad. She would want me to enjoy my life and to keep on living. Our family likes to tell stories about the people we miss. We imagine what they would be doing if they were here…
I don’t get the holiday blues, there is always a kind of fondness and nostalgia in my heart during these times.
Erika
it’s a matter of being master of your domain, controling your thoughts and not letting your thoughts control you… it’s positive thinking, finding the good in the here and now.
it’s so cliche, but it works for me.
I either write about what I am feeling o distract myself with other things. Eventually it gives way to better feelings.
I got broken up with yesterday. It really livened up my holiday.
talk to the 3/4 my four best friends that were out of town online or on the phone.
and just….be with others and have fun!
I look forward to the lower stress than January always brings me. I love January.
I don’t usually get them, but this year I’ve been kind of like…whatever…just get over with. But I find some happiness closer to the date.
PS I posted holiday pics protected if you want to see my scary family. LOL
I color my hair. and take a long hot candlelit bubble bath…cheers me right up.
ryc: thanks
I eat, like I’m doing now. So I’ll become a fat pig and feel sad again, it’s not a good routine.
haha. I go to my family parties, and most of the people forget me, and don’t get me a present.
My best friend just moved 800 miles away.
What do I do to beat the feeling of blues?
play with my new camera.
Take pictures of the people who forget me, and develope them to write all over their faces when they’re developed. It releases stress.
RYC. Thank you. I just wish that I could fix the digital camera so it would take decent-colored pictures. Although, I like the effect, that the broken camera adds, like the pictures are almost dramatized.
Suicide rate doubles durring the hollidays.
enjoying the holiday for itself should do the trick. yeah it might feel shitty with ever present stresses hanging gloomily overhead; but appreciating the lights, sounds, people (even if it’s all just surface artiface) is basically—fun.
I never realized that there was anything called the holiday blues, but when I read your article, I saw that I felt the same thing today. I felt that I had accomplished nothing, and had severly disappointed myself. Because of my unknowing about “holiday blues” I hadn’t initiated any plan to fight it. I had just entered a slump and I am currently in the process of dragging myself out.
Watching, holiday films like It’s a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street. Those are feel-good movies, and when I watch them, my spirits can’t help but lift up.
I haven’t the faintest idea of how to fight mine. I wish I did.
Pretend like it’s not a holiday.
I don’t really get the holiday blues, just the holiday stress. I feel bad for people that do, it’s very sad.
i drink wayyyy to much and then chase the neighbor’s cat around the block yelling and screaming like a crazy woman…
not really.
but yeah, the holidays are DEFINITELY bringing me down. hopefully reading the comments of others on this topic will help me figure out how to cope.
thanks for posting this topic..
~ck
Oh, haha. I always have the holiday blues. Even the birthday blues. o_o
I don’t do anything. I just… let them pass. Like, mope around for some hours and feel sorry for myself and such. They’ll be gone soon so… yeah.
I don’t get them. hm…….
i don’t usually get ‘the holiday blues’.. i do, however, get just ‘the blues’.. and when i do, i call a friend.. that always helps
Pray
Glad you are addressing this. Several young ones are experiencing these blues for the first time and I have spent part of my day today on the phone with a couple of them. It’s healthy for them to know it’s normal. We get through. Good for folks to see that they aren’t so alone.
And I will actually answer the tag question.
I fight the blues by cranking up the volume turning off the lights and dancing rebellion, all the while flipping off the entire world as if they cared. Good times. And no mind altering hoohaa required.
What to do to fight the holiday blues? Smoke weed.
I smash shit
they hit me big this year. I drank some nights and others I just tried to do holiday stuff hoping it would clear them up.
slash my wrists.
I throw myself into exercise. I am pretty active year-round, but over the holidays, I try to get to extra classes and try out new routines and dance classes. It works pretty well. It is hard this year, being in a new city and not knowing many people, so it will be nice to maybe meet people in dance classes or at the gym.
More egg nog?
No, seriously … I force myself to be around loved ones. I can’t help but be lifted by them.
I am doing MUCH better than last year. Last year I felt like a wreck not having a girl at all.
This year I have more peace that comes from the Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, although I am waiting and desiring a mate… God is helping me severely.
In reply to your comment to ME:
You should check them out, Jello Biarfria (sp?), the lead singer, is a genius. His spoken word is also a must listen.
This year is the first year I have experienced “holiday blues”. For a while I was convinced that I was the grinch because the holidays were just weighing me down. I’ve made it through this year and I’d have to say being with my friends was the most helpful in my efforts to feel “holiday happiness” because my friends didn’t expect me to be as excited about everything as my family did.
to beat the holiday blues? go out with the girls. it never fails – go out just the girls, act silly, flirt harmlessly with random attractive guys (waiters and such) and just be carefree. there’s time for work and worries after the new year. =)
and i really liked the post for the democrats – you make some really good points, dan!
remember that i’m alive, healthy and breathing.
Luckily for me, I got what I wanted this Christmas. So things weren’t so blue. Normally, I find solace in retail therapy.
The holiday blues only come into existence when you don’t get a chance to relax and get things done on your holiday. I really need to get a new job. I’m living in a pressure cooker.
i’m one of those people that don’t get the holidays blues. maybe it’s just because i’m still young.
It’s hard sometimes. I just try to concentatre on my kids and past Christmases when all my family was here.
Some people I think have a hard time after the big bang of Christmas is over.
So much buiding up to that day, then its over.
Of course, the true spirit of Christmas should live on 365 days a year, not only 364.
Glad you had a good holiday and safe trip. Now, how lucky you are not to have a messey after Christmas house!
Peace and Love:)
Regarding your previous post, I agree that Kerry and Gore could be strong. But, who can be the Republican candidate next time around?
Clean or read or hang out with friends
Spend ALOT of time in the tanning bed!!!!
Exercise, Pray, Laugh
I don’t think I’ve ever had holdiay blues. I have blues lots of other times LOL. But I have always loved Christmas and the whole gaudiness of it, so I don’t feel let down.
I don’t suffer from holiday blues but if I did, I’d make sure to hang out with a lot of happy people. (that is if I could find some)
)
not much…
Having a gf who cares a lot about me!
eat? don’t think about it? idk.
What happens with me is that I do not get revved up for the holidays, thus no high, no low. But I do miss the magic of holidays gone by.
A good thing to do is probably to set up a New Year’s Eve bash if you are lonely. You can get rid of some of the extra food, see some friends, have a little fun; or go see other people. Find someone you care for and can talk to.
For me..I take hot baths and listen to music as I soak away my troubles. Either that or sleep. Notice a pattern? This is how I deal with most things that trouble me.
Steal pointsettias at work. Go to church. Take all the decorations down right after Christmas and put up Valentines Day decorations – get depressed about that instead! lol
Keep reminding myself that although there are people who have more than I do – there are plenty with less. I try to always be grateful for the little things – my mom’s Christmas breakfast, Nick’s funny stocking stuffers and carols at church.
Find somebody who is worse off than I am and do what I can to help them out.
L,r
I sing and write! The blues came a little early for me this year, Tiffany was in PA, and I was in NC!
Me I love this time of year but you are right there are a lot of bad feelings this time of year. I just got an e-mail from my half sister. Seems she was married 4 years ago Christmas eve, her husband is a native of Ireland. At four years of marriage to an US citizen you qualify for your own green card. Turns out he had told his family in Ireland that my sister was only a girlfriend never a wife. The marriage was a scam from the start. Unfortunately my sister was not in on the scam. He left her on Christmas Eve.
play video games, watch a good movie, or go to a friends house.
I think about all the beautiful things.. and it helps me get through.
My mom died on the 20th of December 2000, so Christmas brings back those sad memories for me now. I haven’t decorated for Christmas since then. How do I get rid of the holiday blues? I go through the motions of celebration because it is expected of me, and I do not let people see how sad I am inside.
The main reason I get the holiday blues for the last few years was because I had lost my baby. I kept thinking that this would have been his first christmas, his second christmas, etc. What I did to try & relieve that was to do something to honor him by. Like visit his grave, etc.
This year the reason I have the holiday blues is because I still don’t have my baby home from the hospital, after almost five months. I have not found a way to relieve this yet…but if I figure it out I will let you know.
hang out w my friends && parteyyy!
i try to talk as much as i can with my special someone..so hard not to have the one you are in love with be able to be beside you each day, especially holidays and such because you see so much love going around, that you want the same in your life..don’t get me wrong, i am happy that people are happy with their loved ones around me..
me on the other hand is not a family man much, but i do fall in love..and when i fall, i fall hard and easily because i let myself..so i’ve been told..
all you can do really is look to the future when you’re not lonely anymore..but at times i get the feeling i am destined to be alone in my life..ugh..
good things do happen..but happiness is temporary..
Where did you get that layout?
listen to good music and read? hehe
Chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate.