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emotions
January 2009 
How do you keep from feeling depressed during the hoildays?
Posted on Dec 28th, 2007
by 
ashlandtraveler
ashlandtraveler
This is in Response to the Questions and Reflections for December 28, 2007:
The music.
Maybe that's too simple, but it's the simple truth. I love Christmas music. There's nothing like it. Every song seems to touch my heart or raise my spirits. In all honesty, sometimes the music takes me to a depressed/somber place. Maybe that's part of the holidays. Certain songs remind me of certain people - maybe people I don't get to see this year. But it's still comforting somehow. I cry. I miss people. But I love the whole experience.
Maybe it's not about "keeping from feeling depressed". Maybe it's about feeling depressed . . . and then feeling loved again. Loved by God (the universe, all things, etc.). Loved by myself (definitely need that reminder). Or loved by the one I'm missing so badly (the song reminds me of how much they love me, too).
I never try to avoid the loneliness, stressfulness, bleakness, or exhaustion. It just seems like I don't remember them as much. I feel all of those things every holiday season. But it's not what I hold on to. I hold on to the love, and I anxiously await every new holiday season because of it.
Keep it simple. Remain true. Stay connected. And enjoy every second of this wonderful time when love and giving are the sole focus of everyone.
Maybe that's too simple, but it's the simple truth. I love Christmas music. There's nothing like it. Every song seems to touch my heart or raise my spirits. In all honesty, sometimes the music takes me to a depressed/somber place. Maybe that's part of the holidays. Certain songs remind me of certain people - maybe people I don't get to see this year. But it's still comforting somehow. I cry. I miss people. But I love the whole experience.
Maybe it's not about "keeping from feeling depressed". Maybe it's about feeling depressed . . . and then feeling loved again. Loved by God (the universe, all things, etc.). Loved by myself (definitely need that reminder). Or loved by the one I'm missing so badly (the song reminds me of how much they love me, too).
I never try to avoid the loneliness, stressfulness, bleakness, or exhaustion. It just seems like I don't remember them as much. I feel all of those things every holiday season. But it's not what I hold on to. I hold on to the love, and I anxiously await every new holiday season because of it.
Keep it simple. Remain true. Stay connected. And enjoy every second of this wonderful time when love and giving are the sole focus of everyone.
Access: Public
I agree..music touches me this season as well. Hearing some songs brings back rich memories of my childhood, my parents being alive and all our traditional celebratory rituals…
then I also find songs reminding me of times in my childrens young lives…they are 30 and 23 now…but to listen to the music…they become toddlers and teens again in my mind….
Thanks for reminding me of that…
Aley