Do the seasons play a part in your depression. Is is usually the same every year? Do you think it is the seasons, or the holidays that go with them, or just the darkness of the time of year??? Some people actually find that the holidays cheer them up, as a time to focus on family, and warm cozy fires.
Were all so different and we all have different “triggers” that seem to send us into gloomier moods…
I enjoy the decorations with my little girl–that might be the difference…a little soon, yes, but i love all the Christmas decorations!
I absolutly hate the holidays its not the same any more
Maybe – I’m not really sure. I do agree tho that the holidays aren’t “the same” any more. Partly because when I was a kid the holidays were usually some kind of semi-large family affair, be it Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Yom Kippur. (Half my family is Jewish, half Christian – used to be funny, we’d celebrate Christmas and the only Christians in the house were my Mom and her father, everyone else were my Dad’s Jewish relatives.) These days almost everyone who used to get together for the holidays has grown apart or died. Usually it’s just my wife, my daughter, and myself these days – and since my daughter is in here second year of college I guess it’s not going to be too long before she might not make it and it will just be the two of us.
Because people are EXPECTED to be happy, jolly, full of Christmas cheer and aren’t, it leads many to be even more depressed than usual at Christmastime. This is most depressing time of the entire year, if you look at the statistics.
For me, it is an exciting time, but it is so rushed and so terribly commercial, that it is usually a time of “panic” almost until Christmas Eve! I love the season, just wish that it wasn’t as rushed as it is. I believe that going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark has an effect on my depression. Not, a good one, lol.
I think I agree too that it isn’t “the same” as it used to be for me. I’ve known happiness and I know that I am not happy now. I suppose, though, if I’d been miserable forever then this time of year would be just the same to me. I still try to get in the Christmas spirit and volunteer more and give more though, which in turn, warms my heart a little. Isn’t it wierd how giving away love and kindness ‘feels’ SOOO much warmer and better than actually even recieving it? I never understood it…
I don’t like the holidays, and i think it is because it reminds me that i am not happy, and i am not a part of happy things anymore so i tend to get feeling even lower and grumbling to myself around those times. Winter is not my favorite time, even though we don’t get too much of a winter here, i hate seeing the christmas stuff in teh stores and all that.
Judy, that is too sad and so upsetting. I don’t understand family being like that at all. Family is family with all of our warts, we are all family, still. It is a shame that your family has no understanding of your son and his personal choice, and to live and let live…I can understand your hurt and frustration. Big Hugs to you!
I would like to skip from Thanksgiving straight to Jan. 3 or 4. Even better, to March! I have SADD so the lack of sunlight really bothers me. Also, when my son announced that he was gay, all of a sudden we had just too many people at Christmas celebrations. Or, so said my sister. So for almost 19 years we have not been tog. at ANY holiday, by their choice, not mine. I miss it all so much because I remember how wonderful it was and how much fun we had. I know it was due to ignorance on her grown kids part, but I cannot forget how I felt. Forgive? Maybe, but the subject has never been brought up again of us getting tog. Its a given that I’ll be sad at Christmas time and super depressed.
Jude, that is just so sad. Ignorance of people, and judgement of that which you do not understand, especially in one's own family is heart wrenching. It seems like there is always somthing that tears the family apart in one way or another. Sometimes it is worth it to try and be the bigger person, reach out and repair things, and sometimes it is just not. I really don't know if I would be able to do that if someone judged my children in that way because of that. Believe me they have been judged for many other reasons. These days it is much harder to get the families together in bigger groups it seems. It's just so much work. You feel tugged in different ways, then the stress level goes up, Phew!
I also can't stand it when the time changes and it gets dark so early. It's horrible. It's dark when I come in to work, dark when I go home from work, i feel like i am living in a big dark cave!!!!!
DS…I also agree with you that I absoluetly HATE how early they put out Christmas stuff in the stores!!!
If I could sleep through the holidays I would. I loved Thanksgiving before my bil died. I have lost a lot of my family members. Yes, I do get depressed during the holidays....Big Time.
my mom always made a big fuss over the holidays now nobody wants to give a little my sister won’t go to my brother’s and my brother won’t go to my sister’s and neither one wants to come here so I go house hopping good thing they only live a couple blocks from eachother
The holiday pressure is already starting at my house over Thanksgiving. I hate it. My daughter wants us all up at her house, with her father in law cooking. I haven't met him yet. He is Palestinian. I don't particularly care for him. Why? Cause when he comes over there, he sits at the table with the family (they have 3 kids) and talks with his son about how his should have a mistress like all men in that culture do, etc. etc, and i tell my daughter I would throw his ass out. So....if he exhibits that attitude while I am there, it won't go over well.But, I shall put that aside, so if I am able to get everyone at my house up and ready to go,t hat is where we will be, but there is also alot to do with my side to even get there. Is it even worth all the hassle for a dang turkey?
I think what really ends up being hard is getting the older people around at the holidays. It's very hard on them traveling, even for a couple hours in the car.
That is so true Bon. My parents like to go out to a restaurant for Thanksgiving because there are only 4 of us (that is sad in itself, used to be so many of us) and because they don’t get out too much. But it is so difficult and truly exhausting, especially to take both out at once because neither one can walk independently outside their home. It is not as bad when I take one of them to the doctor, but taking both of them out is exhausting for all of us and I rather dread it.
We all have every right to be blue during the holidays.
Right now I'm going through an enormous emotional period. Holidays (on TV, anyway) are shown as this fantastic, happy time of year. Long-lost relatives and family members find their way home just in the nick of time for Christmas celebrations. Grandmothers snuggle grandchildren on their laps and read "T'was the Night Before Christmas" in a real "Norman Rockwell" type of setting... while the rest of us continue on with our imperfect lives.
Now add to this the terror of living with Crohn's and complications with my health, I had surgery this week and I'm feeling pretty emotional & physically I'm worn down, I'm truly sick of being sick. I have many thoughts while I battle the beast; a familiar one for me is this: "Will I be alive next year? If I am not alive, will I have left the family Good Memories from this year's celebrations?" Every year I become an actress so that my family will not be upset by such cruel thoughts and I suffer in silence agonizing over this question, wishing the holidays would pass quickly so I don't have to think about stuff like this.
When I'm in a flare up or I've been sick day after day .. It puts me on an emotional roller coaster. Then I cry !! I cry because I am so mixed up and frustrated and frightened. The emotional upheaval of living with such an ugly disease and a disease that 'doesn't' LIKE food ... and it doesn't stop for the holidays.
Jade
I’m sorry–my heart goes out to you, Jade.
I am so sorry you are going through such a terrible time Jade.
I'm a freak. My SAD comes during the summer. I get more depressed and anxious when it's just so bright outside and it's so darned hot. I can't work up any energy to do anything.
In the fall and winter, I have way more energy.
Weather aside, I don't like the *pressure* of Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm always anxious during the holidays...time to cook, bake, buy, buy, buy. Make a perfect holiday! Year after year, I tell myself, don't buy into the hype, just don't worry. Year after year, I find myself running around like the proverbial chicken-without-a-head...“Year after year, I find myself running around like the proverbial chicken-without-a-head…”
Yep, that’s what I mean…me, too.