Tending To Seasonal Depression Using the Five Senses
Back in 2020, I was going through a bit of seasonal depression. And while it was a struggle to fight the negative self-talk at times, I was able to discover things that add positivity and joy in my life with the assistance of my body and I wanted to share some of those things with you.
EYES: Playing dress up, while to some make seem like a superficial and surface level way of dealing with sadness and feelings of being flawed, it truly helps. Doing my hair in a cute style, putting on some makeup to accentuate my favorite features, wearing a cute outfit with colors that compliment my skin tone, spritzing my favorite scent and adorning myself with my favorite jewelry makes me feel put together and presentable. Sometimes just putting in the effort of looking presentable, makes you feel better and that certainly works for me.
EARS: Another way of fighting the blues is playing positive music. I consider music to be a drug and deciding what type of drug yo want in your system (aka your mind) plays an important part in shifting your thoughts for better or for worse. While I have some music that I like to play, not all of it is “positive” or shares a message of happiness. I wouldn’t necessarily play Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” even though its a beautiful piece; its actually quite depressing for me and so I on’t play it while I’m already down but I will play Pharell’s “Happy” because it makes me move and sing along and the message is an uplifting one. All this to say that Music has the power to program your mind so choose wisely on how you want to feel.
Dancing is a serious mood changer. Currently, I’m learning the “everybody mad” dancebreak that Queen Bey performed at Beychella. It’s a one minute routine and it’s quick as hell but what I love about it is that I gotta sty focused on it if I wanna get it right. It gets me out of my head and gets me moving my body and we all know that moving your body/exercise releases endorphins ad endorphins make you happy so get on that!
NOSE: This may be an overlooked area of depression but I’m a huge proponent of specific scents. Citrus scents are extremely uplifting for your mood. I love mixing grapefruit and lemongrass essential oils in the morning to get my day started and at night, I’m all about that calming lavender and cozy vanilla vibe. My friend Tunisia makes these beautiful scented candles where you are able to customize the scents you want and I’ve been vibing out with creamy vanilla, cinnamon with dried rose petals.
TOUCH: I’ve recently taking up watercolor painting and its been an experience to say the least. I am no Bob Ross but I have found pleasure in creating my version of a masterpiece. Painting keeps me focused and being a lowkey (highkey) perfection, I have taken to make my work as accurate a depiction as possible…yes, I’m an artist in every sense of the word and I’m sensitive about my shit.
MOUTH: They say, you are what you eat and that’s facts. I find whenever I eat shitty foods (i.e processed vegan food), I feel like shit but when I eat Whole Foods and berries especially, I feel like I can do all things in Jesus name lol. Change your dieta day ou’ll change you’re life. Food is all about energy; what type of energy you want inside of you? Good or bad?
BONUS STIMULATION — FEEL: Last but not least, one thing I found to be a tremendous help to me is writing positive notes to myself on post-it notes and putting them only my wall. Moments of negative self-talk can happen anywhere especially when you’re home alone. Looking up and seeing those beautiful notes of affirmations and self-love reminds me about the good things. There wont always be people around to tell you these things so it ultimately is up to you o take those steps to tell it for yourself.
What all these tips have in common are that they utilize the five senses. You have to see, hear, smell, touch and taste the positivity. Your have to get your entire body involved in the process of getting yourself out the badlands.
HOW DO YOU TEND TO SEASONAL DEPRESSION? SOUND OFF BELOW!
