Creating Content for You is Helping Me Cope with End-of-the-Year Depression

The free email course I’m writing is keeping me positive while providing something positive for others.

My butt is glued to the recliner. Try as I may, I can’t force myself to turn off the TV, and the thought of having to clean the house or rake leaves makes my heart race with anxiety.

All I want to do is stay wrapped up in my fleece blanket burrito and let the world fade away behind the drone of my favorite actors.

Seasonal depression is a thing, and it’s no wonder because December throws a lot at you. The end of daylight savings time jolts your system in November, and then the days feel impossibly short.

Everything demands your attention during these days of limited energy, and nine million merchants are bombarding you with ads to buy from them. All I want to do is sleep.

Introspection

Then there’s the introspection. As you enter the last few weeks of the year, it’s normal to look back on the months behind. You can’t help but think of your successes and failures, the positive news that touched your heart, and the sad events that devastated you.

Some introspection is good, but if you also have bipolar disorder, your thinking can become obsessive and the downward spiral downright dangerous.

While scrolling through my various social media accounts, I noticed many people talking about depression, feeling worthless, and a lack of desire to do anything. I knew I had to do something.

“True happiness is really when you start giving back.” — Adrian Grenier

Struggles

I get it. December is troublesome for me too. I invariably slip into a few weeks of depression, and even though I may have extra time off from work, I get little accomplished.

Sunlight is essential to my stability, and I feel like I waste the early morning hours getting ready for work. Then it’s already dark by the time I return home.

I can spend some time outside during the day. My boss loves to talk outside, but he’s also a smoker, and cigarette smoke gives me an instant headache. I can never get far enough away from him to escape those noxious fumes. More often than not, I simply stay inside.

And then there’s the holidays and the endless questions. Do you spend time with friends and family or stay home? Is it safe to venture out again, or will the norm be isolation until the end of time?

Solutions

All the gloom and doom led me to create the 30 Days of Positivity email course as a gift for my readers. It’s already been a gift to me, giving me something positive to focus on.

Note: I published one day’s content here on Medium so people could see it before signing up.

I started the course with only five days of written content because I wanted to see if anyone would be interested. I’ve been overwhelmed by the response.

Each day’s post is relatively short, but writing 30 posts, creating graphics, and loading everything into an email service provider takes a lot of time. Still, people are signing up every day, so it’s pushing me to keep producing so I can stay ahead of them.

Motivation

Deadlines are fuel. My brain responds well to time limits, and the push to stay ahead of my readers is keeping me producing. Writing content about positivity is reminding me of all the reasons I have to be grateful. Gratitude is helping to keep the depression at bay.

While I write a lot about positive thinking, it doesn’t come easily for me. My brain loves to play the worst-case scenario game. I sometimes feel like I’m in a twisted game of survivor just waiting to see who in my life I might lose next. I worry about finances, my career, my family, and the quality of my writing.

Bipolar loves to hop on the negative train, and makes me see the worst in everything. It will shine its menacing spotlight even when there’s nothing there.

Writing a course on staying positive is helping me to fight those negative cheerleaders. It’s forcing me to focus on the good in my life and hopefully helping many of you along the way.

Succeed

December is a rough month, but you’ve survived every December before this one, so odds are in your favor that you’ll conquer this one as well. If you’re struggling with end-of-year depression, try creating something for someone else. You’ll find you help yourself in the process.

My 30 Days of Positivity email course is specifically tailored for living your best life with mental and/or chronic illness. If you’d like this daily inspiration, you can sign up for free here.

Before long, the days will get longer again. The gloom of December will give way to the light that will eventually bring on spring. Feed your internal light and it will illuminate your path until the better days return.

Until next time, keep fighting.

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