The Winter Blues

The past few weeks I have been down. You know that feeling where you are overwhelmed by the sense that ‘something is missing’ but you’re damned if you know what that ‘something’ is? It feels like a battle to drag yourself out of bed in the morning, and a mission to get to work. Well I had a prolonged attack of emptiness last week. What the reason was I think was a classic case of the winter blues, we had several days of uninterrupted gloom, and several of my friends complained of the same ailment: a nagging sense of misery and overall blahness. Unfortunately, my usual antidote for these days is comfort food. Usually cheese. Which is not good -- it gives me nightmares. Other ways I have found which give me a temporary boost are: shopping (that then makes you poor), and watching feel good films. Good strategies for short term relief of the winter blues, but really I need something longer lasting.

I had read in Prof. Richard Wisemans book “:59 seconds. Think a little change alot” that a sure fire way to perk up your mood for a prolonged(ish) period of time was to write a gratitude list. In keeping with the title of his book, he recommends taking less than a minute to write 5 things you are grateful for. At the time my mood was so low, I barely managed an “I am grateful for a nice warm cosy bed”. Anyhow, I managed another 4 (I am grateful that I have: decent friends, fun friends, and reliable friends and that some friends were all 3 combined, was the pinnacle of the list!). It actually helped. He also recommends small acts of kindness, and that for long term happiness it truly is better to give than to receive. For example, experiments show that when people spend a bonus on family or friends they are happier for longer than those who spent said bonus on themselves. Well, I usually phone my extended family on Eid, and sometimes a leetle part of me thinks that maybe for once they could call me, but not this time. I kept Wisemans advise in mind, and reminded myself that the people I am called are much older than me, and actually really enjoyed my phone calls.

Another book that has been my constant companion in times of blueness is the “Dont Be Sad” book by Dr Al-Qarni (not sure of english spelling). It tackles the issues of the dark side of humanity (depression, anxiety, loneliness, low self esteem and their ilk), with an Islamic theme to it. Al-Qarni is a well read man and quotes many non-Muslim thinkers and psychologists (Freud and Ghandi to name two). He includes many inspirational narratives, hadiths, poems, verses from the Quran as well as quotes from philosophers and psychologists. This book is a slow read, because each small paragraph leaves you with much to think about. The main things of this book that I remember is again the attitude of gratitude, to remind ourselves of what we have, and how others may suffer more. To remind ourselves that not everything that we hate is bad for us, to accept the past, to SMILE (again mentioned in the Wiseman book, if you cant smile, bite on a pencil it apparently has the same effect) and penultimately to behave in this world as travelers, with our final destination yet to come. I remember going through a phase of loneliness, and randomly picking up this book. I liked how he put a positive spin on this state, that being alone is not necessarily a bad thing, and that much can be achieved through being on ones own.

So, what suggestions do this blogs dear readers have for beating the winter blues?