Flip the Script on the Winter Blues

In the long slog of winter, seasonal affective disorder (SAD) can silently take hold. This clinical condition results from the lack of sunlight that can occur through the winter months.

It turns out that our brains need sunlight, and removing it can contribute to the neurohormones that lead to negative feelings.

These emotions include things like sadness, depression, and anxiety.

If you experience this during the winter months, first of all talk with your primary care physician.

But something else we can do on our end is to get ahead of it this year.

Let’s channel that feeling into some form of creativity. From the page to the stage, choose whatever form fits you best.

In other words, express those emotions through creative outlets such as … 

• writing,
• art,
• singing,
• dance,
• theater,
• woodwork, and on and on.

Why can this help?

When you step back and express what’s you’re feeling, you set it outside yourself. And there, you have at least some objective clarity around it. Some distance from you.  

The way you express that creativity is less important than the act of doing it. Be it a story character, verse, song, picture, carving … all of these are good outlets.

Of course, nothing but springtime can increase the day length and hours of sunshine you experience for your brain health, but externalizing these feelings creatively is a great outlet to help make it through the winter months and all year long!