So often the holidays are viewed as a time of family connection, warmth, and meaningful celebration. However, for many, the holidays highlight losses, a lack of belonging, sorrow, and family dysfunction. Below are specific recommendations for holiday self care for different holiday ailments.
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A Hidden Depression Among Young Professionals
There is another face of depression that is less recognized but is prevalent, especially among intelligent, young professionals. Persistent depressive disorder (PDD), formerly known as dysthymia, is a low-grade, persistent depression that has been present for at least two years in adults (or 1 year in youth below age 18.) People often refer to PDD as “high-functioning depression,” meaning that a person suffering from it can often hold a demanding job, engage in personal and intimate relationships, and even cover it up to the point that those around them would classify them as “happy” or “energetic.” The reality is that those experiencing PDD are often physically and emotionally exhausted, feel sad or hopeless frequently, tend to question themselves, are easily irritated, and are more likely to struggle with regular, healthy sleep and/or eating patterns.
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Busyness: The Socially Acceptable Drug
When we don’t intentionally integrate mindfulness practices into our lives to re-center and to cope with difficult emotions, it is actually easier to remain busy and to distract away from what is going on below the surface with us. I believe that one of the most common and incredibly damaging coping mechanisms of highly competent adults is to stay busy. To throw ourselves into more and more work, to consistently have to-do lists we are attending to, to join commitment after commitment, to feel unable to say “no” to requests, to need to be busy in order to feel worth something or to feel important.
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