Dominique Kent/Staff Writer
My Seasonal Affective Disorder hit me hard this year.
It came in the form of serious Fear Of Missing Out — pining after the ski slopes of Nevada while I’m in Miami sweating my way through December. For those not pining after white Christmases, the good weather might be misleading. The danger of stress and mental health struggles during the holiday season is still very real, though. While there’s plenty of sunlight to go around, the winter and holiday seasons can still bring mood-swings, depression and anxiety — for a number of reasons.
For some, the holidays bring with it financial stress, loneliness and FOMO (the real, serious kind, not the ski slopes kind). Not only that, we college students are in the middle of another “most stressful time of the year:” finals.
There’s intense stress on us to finish the semester strong and spend our time studying for exams. Meanwhile, many students are having to pick up shifts at work to afford the obligatory holiday gifts. Some students are dreading spending time with their families, while others wish they had a family to spend time with. In summary, this season is hard for many people.
Here’s what you can do about it.
The first tip, according to Brad Hoefs from BPHope Magazine, is to keep your schedule simple. Obviously, this is difficult with study sessions, work, finals and whatever other obligations you might have this holiday season. But rather than letting all these things jumble together into a huge, overwhelming mess, make an orderly list with everything you need to do between now and the end of the holiday season. Mine includes all my due dates, appointments, meetings and responsibilities. Having it laid out in a simple, easy to follow list makes it less intimidating and allows me to feel less and less stressed every time I see the list getting shorter.
The second tip is to keep yourself from “isolating.” Many people, especially young people, tend to withdraw when they begin to feel overwhelmed. It seems socially acceptable to hole up in your dorm room during finals season – we’re all drowning in schoolwork – but that doesn’t make it healthy. Seeing friends and going outside once in a while is necessary to make it through this season as healthy and happy as you can be.
That being said, another important tip, substantiated by multiple other sources like the Independent, is to stay away from overindulging in alcohol. Crazy, I know, but true.
Finally, Hoefs recommends that you lower your expectations this holiday season. For students, that means taking breaks between studying and not trying to mimic the idea of the stereotypical “good student” who pulls all-nighters, lives on coffee and cries in the library.
The mentality that you’re not working hard enough if you’re not suffering is something I dealt with a lot over my first few college years. How dare I get a solid seven hours of sleep the night before my hardest final? How dare I use precious study time to eat and drink water when my 4.0 is in danger? And then on the other hand, how dare I not have the perfect gifts for my family?
There’s pressure for perfection coming from a lot of places during the holiday season. But not only is that kind of pressure unhealthy, it can be downright dangerous for individuals already struggling with mental health issues.
This holiday, I suggest making this season a little healthier and a little less stressful. It might seem overwhelming, but there are things you can do to take some pressure off yourself. I promise you’re doing fine.
Featured image by Kirsti I. on Flickr.
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