Blue Monday: Reasons to Hope

Tomorrow is the third Monday in January, also known as Blue Monday. This is considered one of the most depressing days of the year. How do we find reasons to hope and have joy on one of the most depressing days of the calendar? What about the other times that we feel depressed or sadness especially during the winter months?

What is Blue Monday?

Blue Monday was originally created by a public relations company. Using a rather unscientific formula, they determined why Blue Monday is one of the most depressing days of the year. The formula brings in factors of debt, weather, time since Christmas, time since failing New Year’s Resolutions, and low motivational levels.

According to some sources it is just a myth. Whether or not you believe in Blue Monday, sometimes it can be hard to find joy in the month of January. The cold winter months can bring on feelings of sadness and depression for many of us.  

Why Winter Depression?

Why do many of us have moments of winter depression and sadness this time of year? One reason for these feelings is the ending of the holiday season. The holidays are a wonderful, but they can be tiring and stressful instead of rejuvenating.

Many people are dealing with the realities of increased spending during the holidays and are having to face the consequences of their decisions. The days are slowly getting brighter, but the short sunlight days often affects mood. For those of us living in colder climates the days of bitterly cold weather, shoveling sidewalks and scraping windshields is something that we hope will end soon. We hope that spring will come early and the snow will go away.   

Another factor is the abandonment of New Year’s Resolutions as a consequence of not setting realistic goals. The feelings of failure this early in the year does not bring joy, but can bring with it feelings of sadness.  

Combating Depression Using HALT

Whether or not Blue Monday affects us or if we occasionally have feelings of depression, what do we do about it?

It’s easy to wallow when we start feeling sad. It is important to have some healthy habits to keep from spiraling down into depression. One of my most important habits to help acknowledge those feelings of sadness is the acronym HALT. It’s a checklist that I go through in my mind to assess where these feelings are coming from. It helps me to determine, Am I Hungry? Am I Angry? Am I Lonely? Am I Tired?

Am I Hungry?

Hunger and low blood sugar can cause significant changes to our mood. Finding an eating schedule that is right for us and our body is extremely important. It should not be ignored.

When we start feeling sad or depressed the first question we should ask ourselves is “Am I hungry?” If the answer is yes, it may be that our hunger is feeding feelings of sadness and depression. Being hungry can lead to lethargy and fatigue. From fatigue it can be easy to fall into self-depreciating thoughts such as “Why do I feel tired and what’s wrong with me?”

It is important that we build awareness, so that when these moments come, instead of spiraling into a place of sadness and depression, finding room for self-compassion. Take a break, grab a snack and give your body a few moments to recover from being overly hungry. This can do wonders to our mood and can keep us from a place of feeling blue.

Am I Angry?

There can be difficult situations in our day that can lead to feelings of anger. This can also quickly lead to depression and sadness.

We need to make a point of taking a moment to step back. To understand what the root of the anger is, that is causing us distress. Are we angry with the way someone treated us? Are we bothered by not being control in a situation? Are we angry because our expectations haven’t been met?

It’s not unusual to have these emotions, we all have feelings and we are human. The question is what do we do with it? Do we go around angry, wasting our precious emotional energy and perhaps leading us to a place of depression? Or do we try to move past our anger, find acceptance and keep our minds in a more positive place?

By understanding where these feelings are coming from we can move the situation to one of negativity to an opportunity to learn something about ourselves.

Am I Lonely?

We all have those lonely moments in our lives. Even when we are surrounded by family or friends, there can be moments of loneliness and feeling like we do not belong. So what do we do about it? How do we find true connection in our busy world?

Some of it is realizing that loneliness sometimes comes with the territory. It is part of the human condition. We hate to be lonely but perhaps it’s understanding that this may just be for a moment in time. It’s trying to find perspective that even though we feel so incredibly alone at that moment, it will not always be like this.

For me, my personal faith is a huge help in these times of loneliness. I believe that I am truly never alone. I believe that God loves me and is always with me. Knowing that I’m never truly alone brings me so much comfort in the dark and lonely times.

We are not as alone as we think we are. It is so easy to fall into the sadness and depression spiral of “no one loves me or cares for me.” It can be so hard to pick up the phone, text a friend and choose to make connection even when we’re sad. It’s the last thing that we want to do, but when we do, it can bring such wonderful connection. In the end, we are only as alone as we choose to be.   

Am I Tired?

Being tired can feel like a state of perpetual being. In our busy society, it’s so easy to go through weeks, months or years of just feeling tired. For me, being tired is one of my biggest triggers. Fatigue can come on so suddenly and stay for a very long time.

So how do we combat tiredness? By choosing to manage our energy carefully we can start to understand which parts of our day are high energy and low energy. Taking time to rest can go a long way in managing our energy and our fatigue. By staying out of a place of being constantly tired, it can make a difference on how we see the world. It affects how we view our situations and can go a long way in helping with feelings of sadness and depression.

What About You?

Have you had feelings of sadness or depression this Blue Monday? Or do you find Blue Monday to be a myth? I would love to see your comments below or feel free to contact me directly. I do think that we always have a choice on how we react to things around us. By using the HALT method as a tool for reflection it can help us move past these sad moments to finding joy in our lives.