How To Prevent SAD, Depression, & Seasonal Anxiety From Creeping In

Last winter, I sunk. My SAD was heavy, hard, and real. I would sit in the same spot on the couch every day, only get up to walk to the pantry, and try to find comfort or happiness in peanut butter or crunchy, salty things that my body didn’t need. It caught up to me, and I quickly gained all of the weight back that I had once lost and kept off.

I’ve been doing all that I can to prevent something similar from happening again. The disappointment of knowing I fell into what I can confidently call a depression has haunted me ever since. I’m terrified of it happening again since last year it snuck up on me.

I’m optimistic about Winter this time around. Hopefully it’s the last winter of my lifetime where we see the sun set here in Boston at ~4pm EST (is the House going to vote on this, or what?!?), and I’m laying the foundations of good habits once more. Here’s hoping to provide some encouragement for you, too!

Start Establishing Good Habits Now

I don’t know about you, but I am not someone who can establish a great routine and 100% stick with it. I ebb and flow. I’ll be gung-ho about it all year round until, well, basically when the days start getting shorter in the Winter.

So! I’ve once again started eating more clean foods in the week. I plan to jump back into doing a healthy diet with the help of Renaissance Periodization, or RP.

When we eat well, we feel well. I have done this program in the past and have noticed the next morning if I cheated on my diet too much, I legitimately wake up feeling hung over from either an excess of salt, or sugar. I also love that at the very beginning, I always wonder if it’s telling me to eat too much food. This isn’t a sponsored ad for RP, the program has never failed me in all the five times I’ve done it though.

I’ve also started walking a lot more each week. Small goals help me to reach larger ones. I’d like to reach for 8k steps each day, because right now that seems attainable and sustainable for me. If I add more than that and don’t hit the 8k mark, I’ll feel sad about it.

Find Hobbies You Enjoy Indoors

Do you enjoy crossword puzzles? What about playing Boggle? Or completing a jigsaw puzzle? These are all wonderful indoor activities you can do by yourself, with a podcast playing in the background, or your favorite playlist, or with friends/ family! Personally, I’ve been jamming to Backstreet Boys’ Millennium album on repeat for the umpteenth time.

Write here on Medium when you get stuck! Lately, for me writing here has been like opening can of Pringles — I popped, and now I can’t stop.

Happy Lights

If you’re still worried about SAD creeping in and getting you down, bright light therapy may work wonders for you. I personally bought this lamp from Verilux earlier this year to test out on rainy, gloomy days. These lamps work by triggering your cones in the same manner as sunlight. I can say it’s been a success for me thus far with the amount of daylight each day getting shorter. I feel happier, my mood is up more throughout the day, and I am less cranky than I otherwise could be.

Compound On Those Little Habits

For me, the ultimate end goal is to try and grow into a better, happier person. It’s simply a journey of implementing The Slight Edge habits. Putting that 1% of improvement in each day, every day turns into 365% improvement over the course of a year. Everything compounds and builds.

“The right choices you make today, compounded over time, will take you higher and higher up the success curve of this real-time movie called “your life” ”. — The Slight Edge

The tricky part is it’s so easy to not do good things for yourself every day. And frankly, when you are experiencing a real depression, everything is hard. I recall staring off into a void at one point last winter wondering to myself, “How did I ever even DO all of those things for myself during the summer??”

But this year, I’m determined and ready to try my best to avoid slipping into a spiral. For me, combating and avoiding SAD starts with preventative maintenance and good habits. This year, I am starting those habits all over again. This year, I choose me.

Please help me in getting creative with more indoor hobbies. What do you plan to do this winter? What are your favorite things to do indoors during the cold months?

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