We’re at the start of a new year, but for many, it can feel a little bleak. We classically celebrate new years and other significant days, but that doesn’t mean everything is 100% perfect, or even back to normal. And it’s ok to feel this way.
This Monday is in fact Blue Monday, dubbed the most depressing day of the year. This is loosely based on data such as the weather, motivation levels, and the time since Christmas holidays ended.
In the run up to the day, we wanted to share a few tips from our partner Calmer, a mental health training organisation working to support individuals through their digital courses and UK-based events. They believe in regularly checking in with your mental health is a great way to acknowledge how you feel, and work on improving over time, just like a gym membership can do for our physical health!
Here are a few ways you can beat the blues this month, as recommended by Calmer:
1. Pinpoint Why You’re Feeling Blue
Blue Monday gives us a brilliant opportunity to discuss our mental wellbeing, and how normal it is to feel blue.
If you’re feeling this way, it may be useful to spend some time working out why. Could it be your performance at work? A relationship gone awry? Are you eating well?
Give yourself an opportunity to address these situations, quietly and for your own benefit. You’ll find this makes things clearer, and may give you an opportunity to start improving on certain situations.
If you’re feeling blue but can’t work out why, you may have seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Feeling low is quite common during the winter months (see our guide to SAD for more information) and there are a few easy ways to remedy this, such as giving yourself more time to sleep, taking vitamin D supplements, and more.
If that’s not it, it’s ok to acknowledge that you’re feeling blue, without a cause. Our mental health is on a sliding scale, and that can change day-to-day. Be kind to yourself and let the feelings move through you, but know that you are not defined by them.
2. Share How You’re Feeling
The next step to resolving your blues is to discuss them. This could be with someone you trust, a friend, family member, or by joining our Calmer Community.
For many bloggers, influencers, and creatives who work alone, you may find it harder to connect with other people. This could be down to less face-time with others, and especially those in a similar position to you – entrepreneurs, freelancers, and business owners. Hopefully the Ethical Influencers community can help you with some of that, but finding a friend or family member to have an open and honest chat with can do wonders.
3. Take Steps to Find Contentment
Depending on the cause of your blues, you may want to build a plan around overcoming them.
This can be something as simple as meditating, taking up breathing exercises, giving yourself defined working hours, or creating a self-care plan.
If eco-anxiety is weighing heavy on you, consider focusing on what’s possible to have a positive impact on in your life. Can you reduce your impact? Or perhaps speak about it to your colleagues at work, or in your community?
And if it’s stress or burnout is causing you to feel this way, try joining the Reignite Project. This is our free course that is supporting 600,000 people to recognise their own personal symptoms of stress and burnout, and reducing them over time. Each step will be sent directly to your inbox, making it quick and easy to start checking in with your mental health on a more regular basis.
Get 10% off Calmer Community Membership
As an official Ethical Influencers partner, you can get discounted access to the Calmer Community for mental wellbeing training, resources, and further discounts on events too.
Use the code: CCETHICAL10 when joining the Calmer Community.