Got a Bad Case of The Holiday Blues?

The Christmas Season Can be a Stressful Time of Year

It happens. There can be quite a bit of stress and more than a few expectations and obligations around this time of year. Getting depressed from seasonal stress or loneliness around the holidays is quite a common occurrence.

Christmas brings with it quite a few additional stresses and expectations. Occasionally that big picture seems to be much more than we are able to deal with and that brings with it an unfortunate downward shift in mood.

The holiday blues can be tough to snap out of but it is important that you manage to shake yourself out of it. That is why we are going to look into a few ways to help you shake that sad mood. The Christmas season has a lot to offer and you certainly don't want a bad case of seasonal depression to cause you to miss out on one of the most potentially fun times of the year.

There are Many Reason Why a Person may Feel Feel Sad During the Holidays

Seasonal Expectations
Seasonal Stress
Money Stress
Too Many Obligations
Work Stress
Winter Isolation
Loneliness
SADS (Seasonal Depression Disorder)

Is it a Lack of Money That has You Feeling Down? It Happens.

The holiday season can add quite a few extra little expenses to an already tight budget. Pre-planning your holiday budget and then sale shopping throughout the year you can reduce the overall cost of Christmas gifts, cards, and food. Unfortunately sometimes you can still be get caught off guard but don't write your Christmas off quite yet.

The Internet can have quite a few ideas for you. There are many simple craft projects and baking tips that can provide a wealth of gift, decor, food, and other holiday options for you. Beading, crochet, knit, woodwork, and other project patterns can be found free online and often we have many of the supplies we need to create these homemade gifts on hand in our home.

Home baked treats are always a wonderful gift to receive. These goods can be baked in advance and then frozen until they are needed. Jar gifts are also another new and popular gift theme and be comprised of edible or non-edible treats inside. If you haven't quite enough money for store purchased gifts than something from the kitchen can be equally delightful.

Crafting Can Make a Dollar Store Purchase Look Spectacular

Things You Can do if You Get the Holiday Blues

1. Phone up a friend.
2. Put on some Christmas music.
3. Address a few holiday greeting cards.
4. Join a club or gym.
5. Bake some cookies.
6. Read a book that you have previously not found time to.
7. Go online and play a games at Facebook or Pogo. These sites often have chat so you can talk with your fellow players.
8. Check out community events in the local paper.
9. Put up decorations. Decorate a Christmas tree.
10. Head outside and decorate your yard.
11. Walk or drive to see the holiday lights in your community.
12. Go to the mall and purchase some presents for yourself. Then wrap them up and put them under the tree. (If you want to be surprised go to a small shop and ask if they will do the shopping for you for a specific dollar amount.)
13. Pop some popcorn. Watch a comedy or other movie that brings a smile or fond memories.

Being Alone or Feeling Alone Can Have You Feeling Sad

Loneliness occurs whenever a person feels alienated from those around them. This means that you can feel alone even when you are in a room full of people.

If feeling lonely is spoiling your Christmas Spirit then the key to feeling better is to get involved with others of like interests and hobbies to yourself. You need to find a way to cheer your mood up.

Joining a group, gym, or volunteering can help you get the immediate social stimuli you crave but loneliness is generally not a situation with an overnight fix. The good news is that if you start working on it today you can build a viable permanent social network that works for you in the future. In the meantime there are quite a few patchwork fixes that just may work to help you through the holidays.

When you are online you are never alone. There are at least another million people on there with you. There are many sites and programs you can use to chat with long distance friends, meet new ones, or play interactive games with people you may or may not know. It may surprise you how many others are in the same situation as yourself during the holiday season.

Simply bored and looking for some low cost entertainment? The internet has virtually anything on it that you might need. If you are reading this then you likely have access to the internet and all the many suggestions, ideas, projects, and patterns to be found there. There are free game sites, free web publishing platforms, puzzles to build, information to research, and free videos to watch and listen to on Youtube. Many sites offer chat where you can talk with others of like interests to yourself.

A Surprise Package Can be a Fun Present to Unwrap

Crafting is a Wonderful Way to Beat the Holiday Blues

Not only can you craft gifts for your friends and family but you can also participate in community craft and flea fairs during the pre-Christmas holiday months and then again throughout the summer months. You can find a wealth of craft ideas at Youtube.com.

The best news on selling crafts is that it allows you to create a new social network. When you are regularly booked for community fairs you get to know the other crafters and also your customers. It is a great way to make new friends.

Artisans can receive high esteem locally. Painting, woodwork, sculpture, quilting, or fashion design. Craft work comes in many forms with knit, crochet, wood working, ornamentals, candle making and beading ranking high in hand crafted items.

You can also craft items for local charities as well. Mitts, toques, and gloves for the homeless; caps and mittens for new babies; sewn pet blankets and pads for local animal shelters; or donate a handmade quilt to a community group to raffle for funds. There are many craft projects which can be of benefit to someone.

Crafting is a Practical Way to Pass the Time

Crafting can be quite a lucrative hobby and especially if your products are creating using recycled items as your costs stay relatively low. Most of us have a wide range recyclable items in our home. Magazines, junk mail, old wall paper, and catalogues are paper products which many crafts can be created from. There are many unused items which can come in useful at this time of year for crafting.

You can craft your gifts, gift wrap, and holiday cards using virtually any heavy weight paper, pre-used Christmas cards, ribbons, buttons, and other recyclable items.

A handmade book of your favorite recipes, a journal, or a personal diary can be quite easily made. Just about any paper will work wonderfully for decoupage or 3D paper tole projects. While another interesting concept is to dab paper in coffee or tea to give it an old fashioned appearance to craft a book of magic spells or a scavenger hunt map.

Origami is a equally cool art as most of the patterns can be fashioned to be small or large. A teeny tiny set of origami animals could be a delightful gift for a child while a pair of large ornamental fans would be a delightful gift for an adult. Do a search online to see what craft projects you can find.

The Sounds of Christmas Can Lift Your Mood

It is cold outside but winter can also be a wonderfully amazing time of year. If staying indoors is not working to pull you out of your mood then get yourself outside.

In winter we tend to spend more time indoors and this can isolate us if we are not careful. That isolation can leave a person feeling lonely.
Most of us humans are naturally social creatures.

Having the support and companionship of friends, family, and acquaintances is important. Although it is a phenomenon that does not happen too often anymore, a person can develop a bad case of cabin fever if they spend too much time alone. Phone up an old friend and get outdoors. Take yourself out for a treat.

Brave the cold and head off to the local mall, out to a concert or game, or to visit with a friend. Don't isolate yourself or it can leave you feeling lonely and blue. Enjoy a cup of your favorite beverage at your favorite restaurant, attend a play, enjoy supper at a fine restaurant, or treat yourself to a pedicure or other spa treatment. This little luxury does not have to be expensive, it just has to be something that you will enjoy and something that will help you to feel pampered.

Getting outdoors into the sunlight also serves a couple other very important functions as well. Twenty minutes per day in the sunlight can provide your body with the recommended required dose of vitamin D. Sunlight also releases other important chemicals in your brain so try to get outdoors often. If it is cloudy outside this is the ideal time of year to begin taking vitamin D supplements as they may help you to have a little more incentive in your bones.

Head Outside and Play - Winter Offers Up its Own Brand of Fun

Don't hide yourself away. Bears crawl into the old cave and sleep till spring but humans are not designed to hibernate. We need to stay active and social even when it is cold and gloomy outside.

There really are many ways to stay active in your community. With a little pre-planning you can discover the most preferred method for you.

Check the community calendar in your local newspaper for events that can help you stay active over the holidays. You can join a community group or club, attend church, take a course at your local college, visit your local library, or volunteer in an area that interests you. There are many ways to keep yourself social during the winter months.

When you join a social club they usually have much more than just member events on their schedules. Most raise their own funds so there is generally a wide range of volunteer work also to be done as well. It all serves to increase your social interaction.

You could also volunteer at your local soup kitchen or animal shelter. These societies are always at their busiest at this time of year. Sometimes just seeing how very lucky you are compared to those less fortunate than yourself has a funny way of putting all of life's little issues back into prospective.

Do a Photo Shoot - Do Something Silly

Release Your Endorphins: The Body's Feel Good Chemicals

Turn up the tunes. Music calls to our primitive instincts, its beat has been able to soothe and rejuvenate the spirit of man since way back to the beginnings of time.

Throughout time its influence has not changed. Music is still here to relax or lift our mood. Christmas songs are ideal to have playing in the background of your home throughout the holiday season.

If holiday carols are just not the type of music that you enjoy then play the tunes that you do. Sing, dance, and relax with the melody. Yes, you can dance alone. Go ahead and wiggle, jiggle, strut, or stroll around your home. Studies show that it will make you feel better.

Dance is a great form of exercise and will help to release endorphins into your body. Endorphins are powerful stuff. Endorphins are released in the brain and from there travel down the spine spreading their chemical message throughout the body as they go. They can help you to feel happier.

They are a chemical message which is a natural pain killer likened in intensity to the drug morphine. We release them when we smile, laugh, exercise, or participate in pleasurable activities. Endorphins are a natural pain killer which can help to relieve physical or emotional pain and can put you on a natural emotional high.