How I Survive the Winter Blues....

It took me quite some time to realize I had seasonal depression. I would go though stages when I would get down on myself for long periods of time, it was getting harder and harder to get out of bed in the morning. Eventually it started lasting longer and longer the tears harder and harder to hide. I decided to go and talk to a councilor since they are free while a therapist cost at least 100$ an hour. I found just talking to someone was helpful, they asked about medication but I wanted to wait and see just how much having someone to talk to, helped. Sooner or later the weather started to get warmer, the sunny days lasted longer and I would start to feel better and not need to see the councilor anymore.

Then again like clock work January/Febuary would roll around and I'd start feeling like crap and life would seem harder and harder to get though. I started doing my own research and found out that taking Vitamin D can help to fight off some of the severity to the Winter Blues so many people suffer from. I'm not saying that it will work for everyone and there are many people who can, and are helped by long term medication for sever depression, but for me after taking Vitamin D everyday at the beginning of the winter and continuing to take it all winter long I could not believe the difference to prior years.

I felt like I had discovered the answer to a question that had been holding me down for years. Therefore every year around October I make sure to stalk up on Vitamin D, not only for me but for my now 14 year old daughter too, because if she is anything like me, she is gonna need them. Now this is not to say that every winter I fly though February & March like they are July & August. I have come to acquire a few other little tips & tricks that help me get through those Winter Blues. The Biggest & Best One By Far Is.......

When you can't seem to find any good in this world, when everyone around you is letting or getting you down, the best & only way to combat those Winter Blues is to.....

BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THIS WORLD (Ghandi)

This has become one of my favorite sayings, I have come to realize that if I can't or won't do the hard things I expect others to do, how can I possibly expect them to do it. If I wished someone would buy my coffee in the line ahead of me, why don't I do that for someone else? If I expect someone to understand my point of view, then I must try to understand theirs. If I want someone to shovel my driveway for me, out of the goodness of their heart, then I must also be willing to go and shovel someone else's driveway out of the goodness of my heart, which is where my Good Deed Story begins.....

I live about 2 hours north of Toronto, some like to call it the Great White North, because we defiantly get A LOT more snow then the city does. Tonight we got a pretty big dumping, about 15-20cm (that's almost 8 inches for you Americans LOL). After I finished my driveway I stood there as the snow came slowly fluttering down, thinking about how nice it would of been to wake up tomorrow morning and see that someone had done it for me. Which got me thinking about my favorite saying.

BE THE CHANGE YOU WISH TO SEE IN THIS WORLD

I instantly thought of the perfect candidate, a single mother of 2 who lives just around the corner from me, who not only works as a nurse in a hospital about an hour away from our town, also she works in the Health Unit in our town. There I was creeping up to her house with my shovel and snow brush in hand, it was about 11:30 at night. Doing my very best to shovel as quietly as I could, I didn't want to wake her or her kids up, I knew that would turn my good deed into a giant pain in the butt. I got it done tho! Even did the path and the stairs going up to her front door. As I walked away staring at the shoveled driveway I had done, wishing I could see her face when she looked outside in the morning and saw that only her driveway had been done....I even went back and made sure I got all the snow the plow left when he came by!

I was on such a GOOD DEED HIGH when I left my neighbours, my mind was racing with other things I could do with this new fallen snow. I remembered my kids watching a YOUTUBE video of some guy who had gone out to his local hospital after a snow fall and cleaned off all the snow on the cars.

BBIINNGGGGOOO!!!

That was exactly what I did, at 12:00AM I drove myself up to the hospital and just started brushing off cars. I myself have have had to live in a hospital through the winter months and remembered just how much I loathed having to clean the car off, after finding out some of the most stressful news of my life. There were about 50 cars in the parking lot and I knew I wasn't going to do them all, but I figured I might as well start somewhere. I decided to do about 5 or 6 cars near the emergency room, when a lady came out and looked at me like I had 5 heads. I asked her if she would like me to do her car for her, she said she wasn't leaving yet.

I replied "Well then you wont have to do it when you do leave??"

She still said "No, that's alright"

I didn't push, it kind of made me sad that she just couldn't fathom someone doing something like that out of the goodness of their heart. That didn't stop me though, I kept on going, but this time I moved over to the front of the hospital. I cleaned off another 5 or 6 cars when a security guard came out. I suppose the lady from earlier who saw me (We will just call her Karen) went inside and told on me.

The security guard however, after being a bit shocked was more understanding and then grateful after he got the reply to

"What exactly are you doing out here?"

I replied my cheeks rosy from blushing not from the cold, but he didn't know that, "I used to live in a hospital when my son was younger so I know how stressful it can be, and weather they are Doctors, Nurse, Patients or Parents, no one wants to clean off 20cm of snow when they leave the hospital."

He saw the snow brush in my hands and myself all bundled up, he knew I was just there trying to spread some love, and Pay it Forward. I told him that I would stop if he wanted me to, my arm was starting to get a bit soar.

He answered "That's ok, it's just not something you see everyday, and thank you, I'm sure these people will appreciate it tomorrow morning"

I did about 5 more cars, and started to feel guilty I wouldn't be able to get them all done, I would of been there all night, and I did have my kids (14 &10) sleeping at home. I knew I had done what I came to do, I didn't take any pictures, cuz I didn't want people to think that I was just doing it for social media, YET here I am trying to win a contest with this story. LOL

That was not the reason I chose to go out that snowy night, I chose to Be the Change I wanted to see, and the feeling it gave me was better then any anti-depressant I've ever tried. I wanted to share my story in hopes that if it does nothing else it puts a few smiles on a few faces. I'd also like to acknowledge that depression can be a very sever and debilitating disease and I just want people to know I am not down playing it or saying this will fix everyone's depression or Winter Blues, but I do think it is something EVERYONE should try, you just might be surprised at how GREAT it makes you feel!

Thank You so much for reading my story, if you liked it please feel free to click the heart to let me know. I haven't been lucky enough to get a tip yet, I've only written a few story's so feel free to be my 1st ;)

Sincerely, Laurie Chambers