Holidays and depression

[Wolfaera]

The last few years have been bad when it comes to the holidays and my depression. Family has gone down in numbers, which makes me sad. People and their supposed "holiday" attitude frustrate and make me more sad. I often wish I could just fast forward thru the time. It gets old with crying a lot more and the extra amount of mental work it takes to keep myself up. I try to find positive holiday activities to help with the down and low funk I get into, such as, buying presents for people who can't afford them, doing an extra thing for others. I've gone so far as saying I don't need anything, please give a gift to the local toy drive instead, or give a blanket to a shelter. It makes me very sad to see all the selfish greed and the pushing and shoving in stores to get an item, it's gross. It definitely doesn't seem like a happy time as it maybe should be. Instead I'm reminded of loss of family, extreme sadness and more loneliness, and human ugliness and selfishness.

[MomBoss]

I feel your pain, holidays put such stress on us all to fit the hallmark card image and if that's not going on its hard not to feel sad.

[kinikia95 ADAA Volunteer]

I am alone for all of the holidays but somehow I manage to feel ok but it took time like building up a callus. Your attitude of asking others to give to the needy is fantastic. You should feel fortunate that you even have people that want to give you gifts. In all of the ugliness, that's a blessing- have you thought about doing charity work? You sound like the perfect candidate. So many bright shiny families come out at this time to ladle gravy at the soup kitchen and make themselves feel better for a moment but there are many other organizations that need help, like domestic abuse shelter. If you're comfortable with community outreach maybe you should look into it? It's a good time to seek organizations that need help, since they tend to make appeals at this time. Perhaps making the commitment to assist post January 1 when help is scarce could be your holiday boost that can last after the decorations are taken down. If you are able to donate blood now you could potentially help save up to three lives in an hour or so and take the hoidays back! I'm not normally a positive person but there are ways to find good in the holiday time.