Connection: How to Resist the Winter Blues

I leave work at 5:00 p.m. It’s already dark, it’s raining for the fourth time this week, and the trees are bare and shriveled. I pull out the weather app, and it says the low is 6 degrees. As someone who was born and raised in Florida and Alabama, this does not bode well with me. Overall, I feel the weight of an inexplicable melancholy permeating everything I do. All these factors can only mean one thing—the Winter Blues have struck again. 

I have struggled with anxiety and depression since I was a toddler, but there is something about the late December to early April stretch that just exacerbates the usual challenges that come with it. In my experience of dealing with these things, I have found three ways that the Bible can empower us to resist the Winter Blues this year: 

Connect With God
Let me start by saying that this is not an all-encompassing, “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” approach to dealing with mental illness. I implore you to use medication, seek counseling, and use holistic methods if and when they are necessary. There is a real danger to minimizing the pain that can come from treating this topic flippantly or without the empathy it is due. That being said, this resource is meant to be used as a supplemental material that points you back to our ultimate Healer—Jesus!

The Bible is rich with the theme of renewal and connection. One of the primary ways we can be “renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16) is by reconnecting with God. The holidays can often throw us off our groove when it comes to the spiritual disciplines of daily time in the Word, prayer, and pursuing a lifestyle of worship. I challenge you to counteract these things by starting small. 

Don’t shame yourself for breaking good habits; rather, start them anew by setting small goals for yourself. Read one chapter of the Bible three days a week. Pray in the car on your way to and from work every day. Come to a Sunday service and worship with fellow believers, fully surrendering your heart to God. As you meet these small goals, extend them until you have re-established the disciplines you lost. Realigning your heart and mind with God and His purpose for you is like a death-blow to our inner darkness. It cannot hold up when met with the light of our Savior and King!

Connect With Better Choices
I often don’t just feel mentally down during the winter, but I feel physically icky as well. Over the holidays, I eat way more junk, I am too busy to stay physically active, and my sleep schedule gets all out of whack from traveling. In the summer, I can take a walk with my husband after work each day, soaking in the extra 3-4 hours of glorious sunlight. In the winter, we get home and it already feels like it's time for bed. Over time, it can definitely take its toll on my mentality. 

If this is something you deal with as well, I again challenge you to start small. In the book of Ephesians, Paul tells us to “...put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24). It’s important to note that we are unable to “put off our old selves” without the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). 

Making healthier choices for ourselves will do NOTHING if we are not actively working to connect with God each day—it is paramount for both our spiritual and our overall health! However, unhealthy choices can make us feel bad physically, seeping into our mental and emotional state over time. That being said, the challenge is once again to start small! Set small goals like cooking instead of eating out 1-2 more times a week. Aim to go to bed and wake up at reasonable hours that align with your family’s needs. Swap that third coffee or soda for the day for a large glass of water. Schedule 15-20 minutes of physical activity a few times a week. These suggestions sound silly, but small habits can have large impacts!

Additionally, Jesus tells us that: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6: 22-23). We can apply this concept to healthy choices outside of the realm of physical health. For example, our mental health can be affected by the T.V. shows and movies we watch, the music we listen to each day, and the social media content we consume. If we are constantly filling our hearts and minds with worldly junk, we will feel the mental impact of those choices! 

Connect With Others
After renewing your relationship with God, I challenge you to reconnect with others. The tendency when we face seasons of depression (seasonal or otherwise) is to withdraw and distance ourselves from the people who care about us most. While it may start off innocently because we’re genuinely tired, it is proven to make symptoms like fatigue, apathy, and feelings of despair worse. 

Reach out to a friend and grab a coffee. Schedule a family dinner. Join a small group here at Cornerstone—my small group has done more for me in this area than I can possibly say! No man is an island. We are designed by God for community, and Satan loves to isolate us. Fight against him through connection—both with God and with other believers!

As we walk through these winter months, my prayer for us is that we would remember that: “...Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)