10 Simple things to combat Blue Monday
OK, I admit it, I’ve been getting really down about my health. It’s coming up to 2 year anniversary having Long Covid and the last 2 weeks have been particularly bad. It wasn’t till I woke up this morning that I realised it was Blue Monday but I was in the perfect mood for it.
I wrote about walking for health and wellbeing recently but today I wanted to share with you the 10 things I did today to combat Blue Monday.
The 10 things I did today to lift my mood
- Cold shower
- Cleanse and moisturise
- Take a stroll
- Make vitamin D
- Reach out to a friend
- Aromatherapy
- A little treat
- Invest in a SAD daylight lamp
- Download a affirmations app
- Listen to some music
Cold Shower
This isn’t as horrid as it sounds. I started cold water therapy last summer to help with Long Covid symptoms. As winter came I stopped taking cold showers but this week I’ve started up again, here’s how: After you’ve finished your normal hot shower simply turn off the hot and turn up the cold to full. With only cold water running from the shower let the water run down your back for 30 seconds. Breath slow and deep to prevent hyperventilation. The following day stay for 40 seconds, each day increasing your time by 10 seconds until you reach 3 minutes. The cold water helps with low mood, inflammation as well as having many other benefits.
Cleanse and moisturise
What I mean by this is that I took a few minutes longer than normal to get ready in the morning. Taking more time to get ready and applying lotions and potions to your body makes you feel better. You could even apply your favourite fragrance, even if you’re not seeing anyone.
Take a stroll
With my health being so rubbish last week I’ve not been able to get out on a proper walk but today I took a very slow ambling walk into my local village. It’s about a 5 minute walk but I wasn’t in a hurry so I took my time, looking at everything on the way.
Make D while the sun shines
While in the village, I bought a few supplies. In one of the shops I overheard the shopkeeper say “make D while the sun shines” and I thought that’s exactly what I need. So on the way home I sat on a wall with the sun on my face, closed my eyes and soaked it all up, creating vitamin D that I’ve probably been lacking the last 7 days. When I got home I found another patch of sun on my balcony. I sat for 15 minutes and felt the warmth on my face.
Reach out to a friend
Because I’d been stuck in a rut with my health, when my neighbour messaged me I kindly took up her offer to have a cuppa and a catch up. It was so lovely to have a chat and find out about her graduation. She also gave me a lovely little miss sunshine card which is just brilliant. It really did me the power of good and I’m very grateful.
Aromatherapy
When I eventually settled down to do some work today I light my oil burner and put a blend of sweet orange and geranium oils in it. As well as smelling gorgeous the orange oil is uplifting and can help with anxiety and depression.
A Little Treat
I know it’s not always favourable to treat yourself to food but I find cooking relaxing so I bought some nice ingredients to make a delicious dinner tonight.
Invest in a SAD daylight lamp
I’ve heard good things about daylight lamps for Seasonal Affective Disorder so I ordered mine last night. I will report back on how it works.
Download a affirmations app
I spend a lot of time on my own, mostly that’s fine, but sometimes the conversations I have with myself can become negative without me even consciously realising it. Yesterday I downloaded a unique daily affirmations app on my phone. Each day it gives you a positive affirmation, you can get alerts through the day to remind you to read it. You can record yourself saying the affirmation and you can even get Siri to read it out to you. A bit of positive brain retraining can’t do any harm.
Listen to some music
I’m just off to cook my evening meal and I will be putting on my favourite uplifting tunes to help me along. Often I get so distracted by my brain that I forget to put on some music to sing or sway along to. Music is a very powerful mood changer.
How did you combat Blue Monday?
I hope these 10 simple things to combat Blue Monday are useful to you for today and beyond. Please let me know if you try any of them and how they work out for you. Have you got any good tips to turn your mood around during these winter months? Please write them in the comments below.
Take good care of yourself, Elizabeth
