TO WRITE: Holiday Ups and Downs
So how do you really feel about this holiday season? It can be confusing. Family, friends, partners and mall stores may all expect bliss; magazine articles on SAD and newspaper editorials on the economic downturn may feel like harbingers of depression. Not an easy time for folks with mood disorders. I know I can feel up one minute and down the next for no apparent reason. So perhaps our goal should be to maintain some sense of stability, equanimity, groundedness. But how?
Play with this. . .
Write continuously for 20 minutes on: What helps keep you on an even keel at this time of year? Write as if you are sending this to a friend who needs your advice. For me, writing itself -- including being alone and quiet for 20 minutes -- helps a lot. So do occasional naps (even short ones), eating protein instead of too many Christmas cookies, not watching too much TV or surfing the net too much, and giving charitable gifts in honor of family members instead of just buying gifts for the sake of buying. What helps you?
This holiday period is likely to have both ups and downs for each of us. I wish all of you moments of joy, periods of peacefulness, and the awareness that life will likely settle down some soon, so persevere even if it gets tough.
With warm regards,
Beth
About Me
- Elizabeth Maynard Schaefer, Ph.D.
- My book, WRITING THROUGH THE DARKNESS: EASING YOUR DEPRESSION WITH PAPER AND PEN, was published by Celestial Arts in June 2008. I've been a science journalist, textbook editor and author, poet, memoirist, creative writing instructor and -- sometimes -- a bipolar depressed person, since earning my Ph.D. in biology at Stanford University in 1991. For the past ten years, I've combined my interests in writing and mental health by teaching creative writing to other people with mood disorders in a class meeting at Stanford's Psychiatry Department. I speak on mental health topics, both personal and professional, to a wide variety of groups.
3 comments:
I have had a short holiday and return to work on Monday 5th. I didn't write much, though. I found it hard to sit still in those few days leading up to Christmas. Too hyped up. Still, it was a good time.
I really notice it when I don't write. I feel I need to 'scrape the scum off the surface' by writing every day, just like when I'm cooking a beef stock slowly for hours and hours.
Thanks for your good wishes, Beth.
Fascinating; I've just found your blog (link to a link) and discovered a truly kindred spirit - my novel, Writing Therapy - about recovery from depression through creative writing - was published in December last year. You can find out more about it here: http://writingtherapyblog.blogspot.com/
Small world, eh?
Hello Dotterel,
Congratulations on your novel! We do indeed sound like kindred spirits -- I'm surprised we haven't crossed paths before. I just ordered your book from Amazon and look forward to reading it. Stay in touch!
Beth
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