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Holiday Season Depression

BabyJago
BabyJago Posts: 15 Member
in Social Groups
Do any of you baby boomers get depressed at holiday time? I've always had some holiday depression, but it seems worse since I've entered menopause. As soon as it's the new year, I feel a lot better. I wish I loved the holidays, but each year I dread them and am relieved that they are over for another year.

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  • KathleenC12
    KathleenC12 Posts: 46 Member
    You have posed a difficult question, and there is no easy answer. I have sometimes felt blue at Christmas, but it lifted after menopause. But, want to offer a few thoughts:
    1. It's a made-up holiday. Even Christians agree that the actual event it celebrates most likely did not happen on Dec. 25
    2. it is now mostly a commercial holiday; many people celebrate it only in the secular sense, and there is a massive marketing campaign to buy stuff. (Then work all year to pay for it.) Many people feel depressed and guilty about either not going all out, or overspending. Both reactions are the result of cultural conditioning, and we should reject that.
    3. There is a great cultural expectation of enforced jolliness. But some people have life events that do not lead to jolliness- something serious has just happened, or it is a sad anniversary. Why try to legislate happiness?

    So, some Christmases you might feel full of joy, some may be pleasant and friendly and some downright sad. That is more realistic than faking a feeling you don't feel. Menopause of course can play havoc with your emotional equilibrium, and may be a definite factor in your mood.

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