Holiday Blues?

It's the cold confinement of the winter months that cause these feelings inside most all of us and it's effects are increased by depression or other such illnesses. During this season you are inside most of the time, the hours of darkness are longer and we tend to sit and reflect upon thoughts of our past and we become lost in those thoughts because we don't have the warm sunny days calling us into the fresh air... This deadly combination is what causes the higher suicide rates during the winter holiday season.

Suggestion: get a nice warm blanket, throw the pillows on the couch and watch all the Holiday season DVD's that kill that mood... like Die Hard 1-4 and Lethal Weapon 1-4 they are ALL Classic Holiday Season movies that are sure to break up those dreaded Blues..... What? You say that these are NOT Holiday season movies??? Isn't Det. John McClane going to see his wife Holly at a Christmas Party taking place at Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.? Isn't Sergeant Martin Riggs in a parking lot where part of his cocaine purchase deal includes a Christmas Tree??? I told you!!!!

You don't have to be bi-polar or have any issues with mental illnesses to get the blues on holidays. I'm one of the most upbeat people you will ever meet but there are certain times when I get so melancholy just thinking of my four brothers and the great times we used to have I could cry. They're all gone now but one, and he lives far away so we can't pick at each other, but that doesn't stop me from remembering. After I've had my little sit down and moment of sadness I'm up and ready to go again, life is to darn short to stay down to long.

When I was in college, I asked as similar question to a psychology professor. He informed me that holiday blues are primarily a result of our "disappointment of expectations." Many of us expect more from the holidays than we receive, and thus become a little blue/depressed because they did not meet our expectations.

partly it is because of seasonal affective disorder, which bipolar people are especially susceptable to. Partly its because this is a season for family and friends and it can highlight all the things you *don't* have in your life-estrangment from family, friends that are far away, ect.

Don't let it get you down. This will pass.

It is very common for all of us to recall a time in our childhood when Xmas was very exciting and truly magic and once we loose that its gone for ever. We may not even recall why we seem to be missing something and may not even know that is what we miss.

Maybe because you see everyone enjoying them selves and you feel sad because you wish you could be free of your illness to enjoy life like everyone else. That's how I feel.