"Here it comes, folks, the Most Depressing Day of the Year:
January 24,"
by Susan Dunn, Professional Life Coach

If you've been surrounded by bad energy recently, and it
seems to be building, we now have a formula from a
researcher to explain why: January 24 is the peak of an
accumulation of things we hate: foul weather, debt, fading
holiday memories, failed resolutions and a lack of
motivation in general.

In my part of the country, you can throw in allergens.
It's cedar time in south Texas and we are topping the list
of cities in the nation on www.pollen.com . And for some
reason the researcher didn't factor in "illness." It's the
peak of the cold and flu season. Allergens, bacteria and
viruses assault our immune systems which makes us sick, and
also over-reactive emotionally. Being emotionally
over-reactive, down, and having low mental energy, in turn
assaults our immune systems. What a nasty feedback loop.

"It's too cold to go for a walk," we say, and then get
depressed about that; and being depressed, we lack the
energy to bundle up and get the exercise, or even to drive
to the gym.

What's happening here? There's also SAD – in many parts of
this hemisphere, it's dark for long hours, and we aren't
getting enough of the kind of bright sunlight we need. SAD
stands for Seasonal Affective Disorder and you can read
about it here
http://www.nmha.org/infoctr/factsheets/27.cfm . With
increased hours of darkness, we produce too much melatonin,
a sleep-related hormone thought to be associated with
depression. Whatever it is, we go to work in the dark and
we come home in the dark; isn't that enough??

It's a full month since that cozy warm holiday-time, and
Valentine's Day is looming on the horizon. With nearly 50%
of the adults in the US divorcing (and single), that's not
the thing to look forward to it used to be, but more of a
reminder of what many consider failure.

What else has failed? Most New Year's resolutions have
been broken by now.

It's depressing to write about this, and you may not like
reading it, except that knowledge always allows us to cope.
It also helps to normalize what you may be feeling. Does
it help to know that everyone else is feeling the same way?
It sure does to me, because it moves me from isolation to
connection, and erases thoughts of my own foibles. It
becomes a general mood, like the holiday spirit. In that
sense I don't take it personal.

However, when I wrote about this last year, I received one
email from a distressed young man who thought my bringing
it up was "really depressing," and it was "all nonsense"
and he "didn't feel that way."

I think there may be some over-compensation and denial
there, i.e., someone who over-reacts, getting depressed at
the thought of getting depressed sort of thing. For most
of us, there are some down times, and we learn to get
through a bad afternoon, or even a whole crummy day.
Developing your emotional intelligence helps with this
tremendously, of course. There's nothing worse than just
feeling an overall angst and not being able to name it,
claim it, and therefore, tame it.

For many people, much of the time, mild depression, the
sort we get from time-to-time can be assuaged by knowing
about it, developing emotional intelligence, getting some
brisk exercise, sticking to or returning to some kind of
sensible health regime, including a good nutraceutical this
time of year, and, well, just common sense. Perspective
and sense of humor help too. I'd give a Most Depressing
Day of the Year party if I had the energy. (That's a
joke!)

Distraction works well too. I went to college in
Minnesota, and so many of the kids had trouble at the end
of January, they instigated a "winter break." It felt to
me like the cure for a sore finger is to poke yourself in
the eye with a stick. The kids who lived nearby went home
and had fun, I fantasized, or at least got to be with loved
ones, while (grump, whine) those of us who lived too far
away (airfare being far more prohibitive than it is today)
hung around the dorm with nothing to do thinking maybe
those cancelled classes weren't so awful after all.

The antidote, someone said, is salt – tears, sweat or the
sea. (The antidote to what? Well, you know, just THINGS.)
If you can't be on a cruise January 24th, you can immerse
yourself in work (it's a Tuesday this year), or put on a
Verdi area and shed a few tears, and last it out, knowing
it's temporary.

Another thing you can do is work on your thoughts and
self-talk. Like, if this is the most depressing day of the
year, then any other day of the year is going to be better,
and that's something to look forward to!

Use your EQ smarts and plan ahead. It's probably not going
to be a great day, okay, and it's going to be especially
rough on those who don't have much self-awareness.
Schedule a massage, call your coach, have a good book
handy, listen to some harp music (thought to be
particularly soothing), book some time with a kid or a dog,
and smile!

(c)Susan Dunn, MA, Professional Life Coach,
http://www.susandunn.cc . Bolster your immune system and
spirits with emotional intelligence and nutraceuticals –
http://susandunn.myarbonne.com . Individual coaching, EQ
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