Don’t let the year-end and New Year get you down
That’s the thing about New Year’s Eve: it’s followed by New Year’s Day. The most amped up night of the year is followed by one of the most depressing days.
Granted, some people feel invigorated by the start of a new year. It’s a new beginning, a chance to set new goals and work to achieve them. For them, January 1st is an opportunity. But studies show that the average person struggles to stay optimistic.
Why do we get the New Year’s blues? And what can we do to avoid them?
The Anticlimax
It’s almost impossible to not be affected by the anticlimactic end of the holiday season. The festivities, decorations, music, food, lights, gifts. Done. Finished. Christmas trees corpses get dumped on the curb, while fake ones go back into basements and attic to gather dust until next year. Vacation is over, and we face long to-do lists at work and home. Some of us must endure the coldest temperatures of the year. What’s to love about that?
Resolution Scorecard
New Year, new resolutions. Right? The pressure to make New Year resolutions and keep them is immense, while the chances of success are tiny. Eat healthy, lose weight, change careers, stop smoking, go back to school, find the perfect mate, make more money. Sound familiar?
Unfortunately, on New Year’s Day you know how well or how poorly you did in keeping last year’s resolutions. If you failed, you feel guilt and even shame. Yet, you’re supposed to try again. And again.
Resolution pressure is everywhere—on TV, at the office, at lunch with friends, all over social media. The push for excelling at self-discipline and self-improvement is relentless. No wonder so many people feel despondent during this time of the year.
Too Much Reflection
On December 31st and January 1st, it’s natural to look back at the year that’s ending and look ahead to the one that’s dawning. But one thing is to take a minute or an hour to reflect on what we have done, failed to do and plan to do, and another thing is to ruminate over it endlessly.
Ruminators chew on their problems—either in their own mind or in conversations with others—hoping to gain insight and fix their problems. But rather than reduce stress, rumination usually increases anxiety and depression.
Ruminators often wrestle with negative thoughts and can become paralyzed by them. They also criticize and blame themselves more than the average person. With the inordinate pressure for self-improvement brought on by resolutions and fresh starts, it’s no wonder ruminators are more susceptible to the New Year’s blues.
If you struggle with rumination, anxiety or depression, you should consider skipping the deep year-end self-reflection and New Year resolutions. Getting out of bed, working, paying bills and managing one’s life—these tasks are challenging enough to add year-end assessments and unrealistic resolutions on top of them.
Fight the New Year Blues
There are other steps you can take to fight the New Year blues. Here are 12 of them.
1. It’s Just Another Day
New Year’s Day is just another day, and January is just another month. Yes, there are seasons, lunar cycles and all that stuff, but December 31 and January 1 are no different than March 22nd and September. It’s just time.
2. Anticipate Some Gloom
If you choose to engage in self-reflection and resolutions, then at least be aware that you may get anxious or depressed during that process, and be prepared to cope with that stress.
3. Keep a Gratitude Journal
There’s always something to be grateful for. Are you mostly healthy? Do you have shelter? Water? Electricity? Transportation? A job? Supportive relationships? A coat when you’re cold? If you have any of those things, you’re better off than millions of people throughout the world. Each morning, write down three things you’re grateful for, and watch your New Year blues fade away.
4. Take Action
Instead of thinking and rethinking things, shift into action. What can you do now, today, to improve a situation that needs your attention? Break it down into simple steps to avoid getting overwhelmed, and take the first step.
5. Do Something You Love
Do something that brings you joy. Relax with your favorite music, a long walk or meditation. Challenge yourself at the gym or the bike trail. Pick up your paint brush or knitting kit. Call an old friend or play with your pets.
6. Try Something New
Doing something you’ve never done before can be exhilarating. Learn a new skill. Try a new hobby. Study a new subject. The choices are endless.
7. Reach Out
The beginning of the year is an excellent time to connect and catch up with friends and relatives, especially if you’re feeling a bit anxious or blue.
8. Go Outside
Get a dose of daylight every day. Lack of exposure to sunlight in the winter months can cause seasonal affective disorder (SAD). So step outside any chance you get.
9. Plan a Vacation
Having something to look forward to can lift your spirits, just like having nothing to look forward to can bring you down. It doesn’t have to be a long and elaborate vacation. It can be a weekend road trip or a night in the city or in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, anything relaxing or fun.
10. Declutter Your Life
Your living and working space can stress or relax you. A cluttered environment leads to a cluttered mind. Take it step by step or drawer by drawer if you have to. Whether it takes an hour, a day or a week, decluttering your space will do wonders for your mood.
11. Be Nice to Yourself
Why is it that we can be nice to other people but not to ourselves without feeling selfish? Would you treat a friend as harshly as you sometimes treat yourself? This year, treat yourself with kindness and compassion.
12. Accept Reality
How do you know when to keep going and when to give up? After all, isn’t life a string of challenges we’re supposed to overcome? It can also be a string of traumatic experiences if we hang on when we should let go. If you lack the wisdom to tell the difference, then seek that wisdom. Make that your one resolution.
In the End
This year will end, and another will start—that’s inevitable. We hope these tips will help you to face and overcome the New Year blues and start you off on the right foot.