It's in acknowledging our need for something and someone beyond ourselves and bringing those things to the light that healing and peace can be found.
I remember the first time I ever saw depression. I was ten years old and it was a beautiful Saturday morning. As the sun peeked through the shades, I opened my parents' bedroom door and jumped on their bed. With endless giggles, I was ready for the day—Until I saw the look in my mom’s eyes.
Dark and rimmed with mascara, the smudges showed she’d been crying. When I asked her what was wrong, she used her strength to force a smile. “Nothing is wrong my sweet girl,” she started. “I just don’t feel like getting out of bed.”
“But it’s beautiful outside,” I started. “It’s—,” she replied. “—I’m just sad. And sometimes sadness makes you want to stay inside and hide. You won’t understand it now, but someday you might. I pray you won’t.”
Seventeen years later, I find myself fighting the same desire to stay in bed most days. The look in my eyes matches my mom’s. I’m not wearing mascara tear stains, but the bags under my eyes prove just the same.
Anxiety and depression have been two battles I’ve fought since young adulthood. While I still suffer greatly, I’ve found three things that help me beat that time of year when everyone struggles to stay cheerful. With darker and longer nights, it’s easy to want to stay inside.
Here are three tips to help you combat seasonal depression:
1. Move Throughout the Day
While I’m not a medical expert or psychologist, I do know that movement is medicine. None of the practices I recommended will heal your depression completely. But exercise and movement are some habits I’ve found that can help me feel a little less blah during this season.
Instead of forcing yourself to engage in exercise you don’t enjoy, try finding new hobbies that challenge you or pique your interest. Let me give you a few examples:
I love dancing. Besides running an adult dance ministry team with my husband, I try to participate in adult dance classes any chance I’m able. I also love using YouTube to find dance or pilates-inspired workouts because they fit my personality and work well for me.
My husband, on the other hand, strongly dislikes physical activity. For the first year of our marriage, I tried really hard to make him work out with me because I knew it would help with his mood and help him feel better overall. I quickly realized that unless it was something he enjoyed, he wouldn’t do it. My husband needs a basketball, football, or technology-related exercise and then he’s game. It doesn’t matter if it’s -10 outside or 100, if he has a sport with a goal in mind, he will do it!
Finding a movement that works for you will take time and trial and error. But what better time to investigate these hobbies than when it’s getting darker earlier outside? If you can include friends, that’s even better! And if you can still get outside during the day, even for just a few minutes, studies show that can help immensely.
2. Listen to Music
As a worship leader and singer, I absolutely believe in the power of music. Just like physical activity, I believe there is a reason Jesus talked about music in the Psalms! Something happens when we turn our eyes and ears to heaven through song and worship.
I get it, though. When you struggle with anxiety and depression, the last thing you want to do is sing, worship, and praise God. But friend, can I be real with you? It’s in those moments when I least feel like singing, listening to music, or worshipping God that I sense His presence most.
This season, I recommend listening to worship music whenever you’re on the go, doing chores, or getting some physical activity. Leaving room for silence to pray and talk to God or listen to His Word are also great ideas! You can even make a playlist of throwbacks or sing-along tunes just for fun. Even if you don’t feel like singing, music speaks to the mind, soul, and body in ways other things can’t. It’s worth a shot for improving your mental health.
Some of my favorite songs you might check out are:
-"Goodness" by RNW Music
-"I Still Believe" by KJ Apa
-"Hard Fought Hallelujah" by Brandon Lake
-"God Is Not Against Me" by Elevation Worship
-"Manasseh" by Anna Golden
-"Hold Me Together" by Royal Tailor
-"No Hopeless Soul (Unplugged Version)" by Stephen Stanley
-"Another One" by Elevation Worship feat Chris Brown
-"Flowers" by Samantha Ebert
-"Broken Is Beautiful" by The Young Escape
3. Don’t Be Afraid to Seek Professional Help
I know what you’re thinking. You don’t want to be that person who needs counseling or medication to deal with their mental health issues. But friend, there’s nothing wrong with seeing a professional. God gave us medical teams and doctors for a reason, and they are a gift.
While not everyone may need to pursue professional help for their anxiety and depression, I will never pass up the opportunity to silence any stigmas about seeking out help. I could tell you hundreds of stories of friends, family members, students, colleagues, and small group buddies who receive counseling or take medication for their struggles, and it doesn’t make them any less of a Christian.
If you’re looking for low-cost mental health services, I recommend checking with your local church and mental health groups like NAMI or TWLOHA. After that, asking for personal recommendations or using Psychology Today can be extremely helpful.
Here are some organizations I would also recommend:
-Soul Shepherding
-1024 Movement
-Confetti Cake Project
-Mental Health America
-Mental Health First Aid USA
-American Association of Christian Counselors (AACC)
-Focus on the Family (Mental Health Resources page)
No matter how dark this season grows, please know that you’re not alone in your suffering. Many people struggle with mental health conditions like depression, and your pain doesn’t have to go unnoticed. As TWLOHA often quotes, "Heal out loud; we almost lost you in the silence."
Friends, we don't need to stay quiet or in the dark about our struggles. We don't need to feel ashamed, embarrassed, broken, or too far gone. It's in acknowledging our need for something and someone beyond ourselves and bringing those things to the light that healing and peace can be found. It's not because the struggle will immediately cease or we never have to encounter anxiety, depression, ______ (You fill in the blank) again, but it's because we walk in the power of The Light.
John 16:33 says it this way: "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world" (NLT).
As Isaiah once prophesied, "Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder" (Isaiah 9:1-3, NIV).
Have any of these tips ever worked for you? Anything you would add? Which of the three tips are you going to try during these winter months?
Agape,
Amber
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/FotoDuets
