Conventional wisdom holds that suicides have a major up-tick during the holiday season.
Some people attribute it to lost family members or the stark loneliness that can occur when work is not available to distract the person who lacks the stabilizing influence of extensive social mooring.
Another school of thought holds that people abandon what works for them during the Holiday season. Our (good) habits are a metronome that "clocks" our best self.
A typical person might drink a little bit more than is their norm during the holidays. Their diet changes. They might not sleep as much or their sleep-schedules might take a hit. We might find ourselves thrust into social situations with people we would not normally chose to associate with. Exercise takes a vacation as does time outside in the sun. Maybe we are packed into steel or aluminum cans and mailed long distances.
Consider this blog post to be a gentle reminder that to be your best-self you must protect the habits that got you here. That is, "Dance with the one that brung ya"
Watch what goes into your mouth. Watch what comes out of it.
Schedule time to move, whether it is walking to "the can" every 30 minutes or running 5 miles-a-day...whatever it takes to keep your fluids flowing and the bubble centered in the sight-glass.
Be gentle with yourself. Be even more gentle with the people in your life who are most important to you.
Protect your core-hours of sleep. Even if your significant-other drags you to another work-party.
If you are on meds to moderate your blood-sugar or blood-pressure or depression or reactivity...keep taking it at the same time that you normally do.
If you get sick...and THIS IS THE SEASON...beg off obligations and REALLY take care of yourself. Hitting the wall at work or in your personal relationships is not heroic. It is stupid and wasteful.
Stay hydrated.
Spend time with people who make you feel good about who you are.
Don't look at social media until the middle of January. The greatest revenge on trolls is to not read the garbage they spew. They HATE when that happens. If you absolutely cannot resist...then at least spell their name incorrectly when you respond to them.
---Added later---
Make sure you do all those things for your little tyke, too.
They can knock you off the rails after they become unregulated.
And thank God for all the goodness and blessings he has given us and ask that he stay with you and all of us---ken
ReplyDeleteI take a male-nutritional supplement to help boost my T-levels as I age. Manufacturer suggests a 5-on, 2-off cycle per week.
ReplyDeleteI'll be dipped if I'm not a miserable SOB who is inconsolably depressed when I'm off those pills. I thought that was an estrogen problem, not a testosterone problem?! The flag salutes just fine the other 5-days, so we keep doing what we're doing.
Great advice, Jow
ReplyDeleteERJ, a very good reminder. I have often been guilty of undermining the good work I do the rest of the year with myself by simply writing things off as "the holidays", and then spend time I cannot really afford re-establishing routines.
ReplyDeleteAll good advice, especially "stay hydrated". One of the biggest, under appreciated, problems for "seasoned citizens".
ReplyDelete