Working from home can be a blessing and a curse if you have seasonal depression. On the other hand, with piles of laundry, dishes, and expense reports, it’s easy for her to go a week without going outside.
The short winter days can feel utterly hopeless, but Anita A. Kripala, a licensed marriage and family therapist in Chicago, suggests that small daily changes can help overcome seasonal depression. I said there are many. your environment. Sitting by the window, lining up motivational quotes around the house, and tidying up your workspace can help boost your work-from-home mood. “Small changes can make a big difference,” Chlipala, who is also the author of “First Comes Us: The Busy Couple’s Guide to Lasting Love,” told her HuffPost.
Karla Marie Manley, a practicing psychologist and author of Pleasure through Fear: Creating the Life of Your Dreams by Making Fear Your ally, notes that many people experience low or depressed moods during the cold months. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), on the other hand, is a “major depressive disorder with a seasonal pattern”.
“SAD tends to significantly weaken mood [and] With less interest in regular activities, even simple activities can feel much more difficult to navigate,” said Manley. Everyday tasks that can be completed can feel like a pile of projects.”
If you’re dealing with SAD or are feeling down in the winter, Manley suggested that you might talk to a therapist and check in with your primary care doctor for lab tests and medication.
Light (both solar and electric) can be an effective tool in dealing with SAD, explained Manley. “It’s an effective, research-backed way to treat,” she said.
When your daily tasks completely overwhelm you, it can be impossible to find the motivation to get out of bed and start working. A psychotherapist at Grace Huntley Counseling, she recommends taking things easy when you can. “If you can automate something, that’s great. Set a coffee timer for her!” Huntley told The Huffington Post. If someone steps in and offers to help you do something you find particularly difficult, now is the time to take that person on. If so, give yourself that option.
Whether you have a formal SAD diagnosis or not, revamping your workspace can help you create healthy routines, lift your mood, and make your daily tasks more manageable, experts say. I’m here. Combined with things like therapy, medication, and other lifestyle changes, it can be a useful tool. I asked my therapist and some of my favorite interior designers for tips on how to do it.
BuzzFeed may collect a portion of the sales or other compensation from those links when you make purchases from links on this page. All products have been independently selected by our editors, are priced accurately and are in stock at the time of publication.
