by David Fireman, LCSW
1. Be up and dressed by 6:30 every a.m.
2. Take a 30 min walk.
3. Eat at least 3x per day or 5 smaller meals with a little protein in each—especially in the morning. Keeping blood sugar in check is very important. Avoid sugar and simple carbohydrates.
4. Add B vitamins to your routine, especially B1 and B12.
5. Consider a therapeutic light. Even if you don't have actual Seasonal Affective Disorder, you can benefit from more hours of full spectrum light.
6. Feed your brain something it likes each week, a concert, a book, an art gallery, a walk in some beautiful place, a play…schedule it and be faithful to it.
7. Get an agenda that has days broken down into hours and schedule what you need to do as you would create a lesson plan or an agenda for a day in an office. Schedule in breaks and lunch. Schedule 30% less than you want to—sometimes you can just cross out 30%.
8. Maintain or reconnect with your spiritual community or explore membership in a new one. If you can't find a spiritual belief that appeals to you, find a worthy cause and donate 2 to 3 hours per week to it.
9. If there is someone you need to apologize to—do it. If there is someone who owes you an apology, tell him/her so. In both cases, keep yourself safe and let go of expectations.
10. Reconnect with gratitude and build it into a ritual at night before bed. It can be in a prayer or a journal. Some people choose to pray differently—It begins, "Dear G--, I thank you for this day. It wasn't promised to me and yet it was mine...."
11. Tell someone that you love him/her everyday.
12. If you take anti-depressants, then follow doctor’s orders.
Copyright, 2009
KC Conway, LCSW
773/274-4600
www.griefcounselor.org
