Are You Experiencing Seasonal Affective Disorder?: 5 Hacks If You’re Overwhelmed

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Ugh, you’ve done it again. You’ve been so focused. All of that hard work day in and day out, making progress. You’re doing great and then…you hit that plateau. That laser focus and drive to get up and at it is a little harder to reach now. Things just keep distracting you and you can’t seem to get 100% productive like before. Frustration sets in and things get even more difficult.

Season changes bring with them a sense of excitement and new beginnings. Unfortunately, they can also bring not-so-happy feelings. There is this thing called seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a type of depression that usually starts in the fall and continues into the winter months. Lovely for us, it happens to be that time of the year and this happens to be very real. Yay.

What Are the SAD Symptoms?

This very informative article on SAD from mayoclinic.org (read the entire article here), cites some of the symptoms of SAD as:

• Feeling sluggish or agitated
• Having difficulty concentrating
• Having low energy
• Feeling depressed most of the day, nearly everyday
• Losing interest in activities you once enjoyed

Sound just a little bit familiar?

So what do I do?

I see people everywhere saying that they’ve been feeling very overwhelmed lately. Everything just seems to be harder to do than usual. So you try to force yourself to do things and your mind says not today, sorry. Hello again, frustration! I have to admit that I’ve definitely been on the wave too. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong but I knew that I still had to make things happen somehow.

Trust me, forcing yourself is only going to make matters worse. Try these 5 hacks that worked for me. It won’t happen overnight, but you should regain more and more of your productive self over time.

1. Write down your feelings

Journaling is a very good remedy for when you’re not feeling your best! I didn’t think that it would help me until I looked at it differently. Instead of seeing it from the old-fashioned “Dear Diary” standpoint, it can be as simple as recording emotions that you felt that day. If you want to go a step further, you could write what caused you to feel that way. The next day or a few days later, look back at what you wrote. Identify patterns and emotions that you can possibly change or manage. You might spot a few entries that will show you how you could have overreacted to something. You can always use a regular notebook to do this, but I inserted some very good guided journals above from Amazon that’ll help you reflect.

2. Accept that you are not yourself

You know as well as anyone how you usually are. If you’re having a bad day or not feeling the best, accept it for what it is. Ignoring your feelings won’t fix things in the long run. Face your emotions head on and look for ways that you can overcome or at least reduce them until they pass.

3. Try breathing exercises if you are overwhelmed or anxious.

If you get too frustrated during this time, chances are you will definitely experience some overwhelm and/or anxiety. There are a handful of things that you can do to keep these feelings at bay. One thing that really helped me was a breathing exercise. Try inhaling through your nose for 5 seconds, holding it for 5 seconds, and slowly exhaling from your mouth. Doing this 5 times actually did help to clear my mind. Hopefully, it will help for you, too!

4. Aim for baby steps

The word frustration has been used a lot in this post, but there is no better word to describe how you may be feeling during this time. You may feel no motivation whatsoever to get things done. Let’s not mention if you have deadlines for your to-do list! The more that you don’t get done, the worse you will feel. Sound familiar? Aim to get a little done everyday to build yourself back up. The smallest progress will help boost your mood. You may even get motivated to do a little more than you had planned.

5. Reach out.

If all else fails or you are at an all-time low, I always advise reaching out to someone that you trust. Don’t keep everything inside and let it build up. Sometimes, just having someone to listen can work wonders even if they may not understand.

Whether you are identifying with the symptoms of SAD or not, don’t let it get the best of you. Keep putting your best foot forward and don’t dwell on any of the weird feelings you may be experiencing. This is a very normal time of the year to feel this way. Know that you are not alone and you will come out on the other side soon!

Have you been experiencing some of these symptoms? If so, comment below and share how you’ve been dealing with them. You never know how your coping methods could help someone else!