_ By: Dr. ErinKate

    Well, hey there!  :)   I originally wrote this blog and titled it the "Holiday Blues," but I thought a little more and changed it to the "Special Day Blues."  I did so, because though holidays have special significance for all of us and make us all a little more pensive and reflective than usual, each of us has our own unique, hallmark days that trigger a lot of emotions. Perhaps it's an anniversary of a loved one's death, a widow's wedding anniversary, the day you received horrific news, had an accident, etc... but whatever it is, it's a day that can potentially trigger a case of the blues: the "Special Day" blues.  And those blues can be particularly paralyzing and draining if we don't actively battle them. In fact they can turn into an all-out depression if we let them get the best of us.  

   Before I go on, I want to go back to the "Holiday Blues" and touch on one thing.  I've recently read a few articles calling the holiday blues a big myth.  Researchers came to that conclusion after gathering data and determining that suicides don't increase around Christmas time. There's a minor increase right after New Year's Day, but the largest increase in suicides occurs in the Fall and Springtime.  That's true. Suicides happen more in the Fall and Spring, but my issue with the researchers' analysis is that I think you can be very depressed or have a severe case of the blues and not feel suicidal at all.  And those blues shouldn't be written off as a "myth," because they can be very debilitating and costly.  In fact,  several years back, I was a big victim of the Holiday Blues.  To say it more accurately, I suffered from major depression that got worse around the holidays, so I know they aren't a myth.  I also know the importance of being proactive about keeping the holiday blues at bay, because the alternative can be spiraling into a deep, dark depression.  The keyword in all of this is PROACTIVE.   You need to ACTIVELY fight the blues, or they will PASSIVELY take you hostage.

   Being proactive can mean anything from calling a conventional doctor for help to utilizing an  alternative prevention plan that works for you. Through my own journey battling depression, conventional doctors nor conventional medicine worked for me. In fact, both made me a lot worse, and the side effects of the medication was almost deadly for me. But that's me and not everyone. Everyone is different so everyone will experience different things and meet different results. I will never say convention is "bad" and alternative is "good," because wellness isn't a black and white issue like that.  Still, my particular experience inspired me to find viable, safe alternatives that worked for MY depression.  Thus began a lot of research into diet, nutrients, herbs, supplements, sound therapy, aromatherapy, hydration therapy, exercises, yoga, mindfulness exercises, ecotherapy, dance therapy, music, bibliotherapy, laughter therapy, sleep hygiene, emotional freedom techniques and so on.  You get the picture.  I basically became my own guinea pig, applying various therapies, dietary changes and such to my own life until I figured out what worked and what didn't. It was a tedious, strenuous and frustrating process, but in the end it was well worth it. Putting myself through that whole process and coming up with an "anti-blues" plan for me is the only reason I was able to finish medical school and is the only reason I was able to pull myself out of my life's biggest rut thus far.  And it's why I write passionately and work for Alternative Mental Health, the world's largest Not for Profit organization dedicated to educating people about alternative cures to mental ailments, because convention failed me miserably and almost cost me my life. 

   So, what now? ;) 

   In today's video blog (vlog), I'll rattle off a list of things that worked for me. This particular list is founded in the science of positivity.  There's no doubt that when you think positive thoughts or perform positive activities, you feel better about yourself and less depressed. There's science to back it up, and in a later blog, I'll write more about that and the particular neurochemical, hormonal and immunological changes that occur when you think or act positive. It's been discovered through research that depressed people have a lower positive to negative thoughts/emotions ratio than average. It's also been found that negative thoughts and emotions have a stronger, more lasting effect than positive ones (Most likely because a negative emotion signified a real threat to our survival in early evolution) and that's why those prone to depression need to work extra hard at adding positive emotion to their lives.  Even conventional doctors are currently experimenting with prescribing positivity ( in the form of what they call "positive activity interventions")  to patients diagnosed with depression and other mental ailments. And those doctors are seeing significant and successful results, making me wonder if positive activity interventions will be a standard form of treatment in the future!

    One more thing before I post the video.  ;)   The tips in the video are ones you can try, but they are not the ONLY things I do to fight the "Special Day" blues.  I follow a special diet, sometimes use essential oils for aromatherapy, tweak my sleeping pattern when need be,  make my own teas,  utilize mindfulness exercises in combination with ecotherapy, etc...,  and I promise I'll talk about those in a later blog. To stay focused and organized, I only wanted to talk about some of the positive activity interventions I do that you can try and see if they work for you as well. When coming up with this list, I kept in mind how plugged in we are to our appliances ( cell phones, laptops, I-whatevers, etc...) so some of those things are incorporated in my list of tips.  Being TOO plugged in is not healthy, but again, that's an entirely different blog, and wellness is about making small changes that, over time, add up to a large success. 

      Okay, now I'll shut up..., and then start talking again in the video below.   ;)      OH! One more thing: I want to invite you all to check out and "like" our page on Facebook which I personally update with funny medical news/pics and wellness tips: Blooming Wellness