Hello everybody! November is here and the holidays are around the corner. I would like to invite you all to stop for a minute and think how much can holiday depression affect us.

With the  season-to-be-jolly coming soon, people start anticipating feelings of happiness and fears altogether:  Where will I spend the holidays? With whom? Family greetings, or friends? Questions like that start to pop up on our heads. Stress, stress and more stress wherever you look at.

Many people get excited, even happy during the holidays season, but others can feel blue or sad. “It is the season to be jolly” as the song says but, statistics shows a very high percent of the population being sad, lonely and depressed during those days.

If you are suffering from “Holiday Blues” there are some things you can start doing now to try to prevent the sadness. The first step is to acknowledge you are going through holiday depression and be able to express your feelings.

• Schedule local social activities

Organize yourself in advance, find out where you want to go and what you want to do. Search for places to go and book in advance if necessary. Don’t let the holidays surprise you unprepared.

• Be Realistic

There is no obligation to have the perfect family reunion, the perfect Christmas party. Don’t set your expectations so high that you can’t reach them.

• Allow yourself to choose

If celebrating the holidays with the family is stressful for you, rethink it. Acknowledge that you are free to choose where and with whom you want to be during that special time. There are many places for people to gather…look it up! Don’t stick to a tradition that might hurt you and don’t try to recreate a nice memory of the holidays you used to have in the past.  Sometimes people spend their adult lives trying to recreate a sense of childhood wonder about the holidays, only to fail.

• Focus on what’s good in your life

Focus on what you are grateful for, for example, the relationships you value the most. Your thoughts are the most important tools you have in your battle against the blues.  Even during the Depression or World War, Americans found reasons to celebrate and be joyous during the holiday season. Control your attitude and you’ll succeed.

• Get Plenty of Rest

The holidays are busy and if you aren’t getting the rest you need you’ll be susceptible to every tiny detail. Eat healthy, get plenty of rest and don’t overdo alcohol. Don’t  feel obligated to engage in unnecessary rituals and activities that can demand too much energy, causing stresses.

I can’t guarantee a Norman Rockwell holiday but, if you follow these tips you might just make it through the holiday season in one piece.

• Finally, remember it’s just for a little while

Like everything else, this too shall pass. The holidays will come to an end and the days will go back to normal. Hang in there.

If you find, however, that your sad feelings last longer than a few weeks or are accompanied by changes in sleeping or eating patterns, it may be that you have a more serious condition such as depression. A counselor can help! If you answered yes to three or more of these questions, check below for holiday-time tested solutions to beat the blues.

Don’t hesitate to call.