In his popular ’60’s song ‘Breaking up is hard to do’ Neil Sedaka manages to cover quite a few of the emotions around breaking up. He invokes memories (“remember when you held me tight”); pleads (“Don’t take your love away”); hoping (“Wish we we could make up”) and pain (“Don’t leave my heart in misery”). Unfortunately the clips I have seen of him singing this song show him quite happy looking (perhaps all the money this song made for him?) and not very emotional.
We are told all the time that we have it all. Good food, jobs, a place to live, recreation time. Our lives have never being better. So what’s wrong? Why are more people depressed? Unhappy? Or are taking drugs or alcohol? I'm seeing lots of clients with ask me - what's the point? Perhaps they are just the tip of the iceberg. The ones that therapists see. But there are other groups that are self-soothing. Ones that do it more subtly. And you, believe it or not, may be one. If you are generally happy and active in the summer but lack energy and feel down during autumn and winter it is likely you are suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder. Also known as SAD, it can affect around 5 per cent of the population and a further 15 plus per cent can suffer what is called 'the blues' (a less severe form). Spring tends to be a time in the year when lots of us decide to live our lives differently. Maybe we want to lose weight or become fitter or maybe even to be a nicer person. Whatever our goal not all of us will succeed. This may happen because we tend to look at the changes as all or nothing. But it needn’t be the case. We jump into the change we want enthusiastically and then get despondent when we don’t see a huge difference almost immediately. But stop and think. Whatever we are trying to change has probably been a habit of ours for years. Maybe we have even tried already in previous new years and not succeeded. If we have been doing something for years don’t expect an overnight change. And maybe you won’t succeed the first time. But if you persist you will. |
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September 2020
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