How to Navigate the Holidays While Struggling with Depression
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The Christmas season can be a busy and fun time, full of colored lights, delicious treats, parties, and sing-alongs. But for people dealing with depression, this part of the year often feels stressful or upsetting instead.
During my own bouts, some Christmases seemed difficult if not impossible to enjoy. The extra social activities just felt like extra work, and traditions that brought other people smiles left me indifferent. I felt wrong because I didn’t have the “Christmas Spirit,” and a sense of loneliness and disconnectedness from others took hold.
Thankfully, God has taught me that there is a deeper meaning of this season that can start to heal every heart. Through the Nativity Story, I saw the great love He has for me. And slowly, I began to sense moments of the comfort, peace and even joy that the birth of His Son is meant to bring.
With time, and lots of support, I’ve figured out that focusing on and celebrating what’s most important about this season helps me navigate the holidays with gladness rather than dread.
NOTE: Depression can be a result of a chemical imbalance or an underlying physical condition in a person’s body. So the vital first step to finding relief is always to consult a medical professional who can offer medications or other treatments.
The Holidays Can Make Depression Worse
Christmas is known to most as a festive time. But according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, nearly 64% of people living with a mental illness report that their conditions worsen around the holidays.
I always hoped that making a plan would help calm me, and it did - to a point. But because of the intensity of my to-do List, my anxiety and depressive symptoms mostly got worse. Some of my personal triggers included:
Shopping for gifts
Looking for just the right presents is fun, but running from store to store or spending time scouring the internet led me to feel frazzled. And every purchase brought a little anxiety about finances.
Parties and gatherings
Connecting with friends and family is usually a sweet thing, but struggling to make small talk or feeling pulled in too many directions made my stress levels go up. And, I felt challenged by all the socializing in such a short period.
Unrealistic expectations of the holidays
Anticipating Christmas was always fun as a child, but hoping for all the same magic as an adult left me disappointed. And I ended up judging both myself and everyone else negatively.
Fatigue
I always tried to remember that the season was just a little over a month, but all the activity left me tired anyway. And that sent me into a spiral of unhappy thoughts and attitudes.
Scriptures to Meditate on When Depression Sets In
One thing that really helped ease my depression, especially during the holidays, was to form a habit of meditating on Scripture. Just reading verses wasn’t enough, though. I needed to really think about them, to absorb what God wanted me to learn.
Each of these passages has reminded me that God understands my struggle. The more I’ve considered them, the more encouraged I’ve become about His promises to care for me. And this is only a small sample of verses - the Bible is full of similar assurances.
“The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble” (Psalm 9:9).
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:17-18).
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
“Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7).
How the Christmas Story Can Help Ease Depressed Thoughts
As I began to feel better, I decided to devote time to reading the Nativity Story more carefully - and what I found in it blessed me. God sent His only Son to live among us, and to restore us to Him - where we belong to His family. As I dared to embrace the truths about God’s love for and goodness to me, the heavy blanket of depression started to lift.
The Good News, starting with The Lord’s birth, had the power to literally change my mind. I was led through a process that helped me go from looking down to looking up, from being focused on my lack to focusing on Him as my all-in-all. It really was part of my healing.
Receiving and believing the Good News
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10).
Realizing what the Good News meant for me
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:18-19).
Being glad for the Good News
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:4-5).
Letting the truth of it change my thoughts and attitude
“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:5-6).
Sharing it with others
“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…” (1 Peter 3:15).
Ways to Keep a Spirit of Joy at Christmas
For me, the key to getting back to a Merry Christmas was finding ways to nourish myself. As a believer, that started with aligning my heart with God, so that everything I did enriched me. Here are some of my new guidelines to navigate the season well:
- Remembering what it is I am celebrating
- Having quiet time with God every day
- Filling up with good things (Christian songs of the season, movies that focus more on the Nativity story)
- Tapping into my support system
- Slowing down and being mindful of God’s blessings
“I find no better cure for that depression than to trust in the Lord with all my heart, and seek to realize afresh the power of the peace-speaking blood of Jesus, and His infinite love in dying upon the cross to put away all my transgressions.” - Charles Spurgeon
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Kerkez
