While for most people the holiday seasons are a time full of joy, for some the cold weather brings less than happy feelings- or in other terms, seasonal depression. Both these types of feelings are completely normal during this time of the year, but for the ones who aren’t feeling so good, this article is for you. I want to talk about different types of journaling ideas, and just ways in general you can boost your morale this holiday season. I also want to write this article to help normalize these feelings in general, and make everyone out there realize you are seen and heard, and I want to help you.

One thing that I do, and I know lots of other people do as well, is journaling. There are many sayings that say writing your feelings down gets you much farther in feeling better compared to bottling up or lashing out, and that’s exactly what journaling is. Journaling is so versatile and can be so easily personalized to you and your emotions. Despite the stigma around it, journaling isn’t just plain, boring diary entries day after day. It can be pretty drawings, messy scribbles, organized writing, aesthetic notes, random lists, etc. You have so many options when it comes to personal journaling and especially this time of year, you would have so much to write about. Some ideas might be a Christmas list, Christmas recipes, lists of what you love or are grateful for, hand written mood boards, and so much more. It takes basically two taps to find worlds of journal entry ideas and a million different ways to style each of them. I believe journaling is so healthy and honestly fun, nothing beats some music along with some good writing if you are anything like me.

Another way of coping with it being cold outside is literally just self-care. With the last three weeks of school before Christmas, students are bombarded with finals, midterms, and just work in general. It is easy to let yourself drown in it all, but you don’t have to. There are so many tiny things that you can do that make such an impact on how you feel about yourself, and just everything going on around you in general. Waking up early and doing skincare, having a cup of coffee, listening to music, or just preparing yourself for the day. Waking up a little early, despite how terrible it sounds, takes away a whole other level of rushing and stress off your day. This is something I can confirm from personal experience. I used to come to school feeling so drained and so gross everyday, and it took a toll on my mental health. During this time in my life, I was dragging myself out of bed at 6:30 in the morning everyday, then rushing to get ready and having no time for myself. Since fall break, I’ve started making myself get up at 5:40, and now by the time I’m showing up at school I actually feel awake and able to get through the day without it feeling like a prison sentence. This time of the year, and any time of the year, the most important thing you can do is care about yourself. Things happen, work piles up, rumors can spread, but the strongest attribute anyone can have is not letting those things ruin you. 

Christmas is the time of year to be excited about, and you should be. Whether it be directly because it’s Christmas time or whatever reasons you want, you deserve to be happy. So wake up early, buy a journal, read a book, make plans with your friends, get ready just to take pictures alone in your room, write a letter to Santa Claus for all I care, do what you need to do to put yourself first. You are the most important person in your own life, so treat yourself like it, and have an amazing Christmas.