Hooray For The Winter Blues!

As we head into the thick of winter there seems to be a collective need for hibernation. Not just in a physical sense; with an abudance of coughs, colds and swine flu panic - but on an emotional level as well. You may be feeling more fragile at the moment, out of sorts , not yourself, down in the dumps -whatever you want to call it, there seems to be a particular need for internal time at the moment.

The problem is we DO NOT live in society that accepts the NEED for down time, let alone giving it any importance - we've got this disturbing 'harden the fuck up' mentality where nuturing ourselves is seen as a anti-social weakness that surely a night on the town and a couple of bourbans can fix. So I'm here to tell you otherwise and encourage you to embrace these darker times in life as a chance for renewal, that require just as much attention, respect and acknowledgement as the warm bliss of sunshine.

Historically many societies honoured the cylical nature of life - The concept of death and rebirth was everywhere; in the change of seasons, the crop cycles, the moon - AND the up and down, eb and flow of emotion. So it was seen that just as a rose bush needs to be cut back to an 'ugly' stump in winter in order to fully bloom again in the summer time - so humans need to move into introverted, reflective and darker places emotionally in order to emerge again, full and powerful. It can be said that once patriarchal rule and christianity made it big, heaven and hell became very real and very separate places in in our psyche and we all knew exactly where we wanted be (and if we didn't then we'd probably be burnt at the stake). From then on darkness held negative connotations of death, evil and sin - things we should reject and avoid at all costs - move towards the light and the heavens good people! The pure spirits will guide you.

Whether you value religion or not, this is history, social function is undeniably a product of the past and to favour light over dark can still very much be witnessed today. When we're feeling down, we still turn to the pure spirits to make it all better - but rather than praying down to the holy ghost, we smash 5 tequila shots at the pub. No wonder theres so much fucking suicide when pain is something we'd rather not hear about.

We need to start allowing ourselves to honestly move into how we REALLY feel and to do it whole heartedly - to embrace the empty branches knowing the seed is still very much alive in the earth and the flowers will be back soon. As well as honouring yourself, its important to remember we all go through the light and the dark at different times and it is equally important to allow your friends to do what they need to do too - if a friend is feeling fragile while your ready for a crazy party - acknowledge where your both at and part ways for the night - vodka for you - a bath tub for your friend.* Often social pressures to be light hearted and fun 24/7 are the exact reason we never tune into what we really need, so don't encourage this bullshit by thinking your 'cheering them up' by dragging their ass out of bed and shouting them a free pill. That's not how it works and really what we all need is someone to tell us that how we're feeling is OKAY! So whether its you who is in a darker faze right now or someone you know - remember life isn't all sunshine and rainbows and be gentle with yourself.

A cold snap may be just what you need.




* Severe depression or suicide obviously requires more than just a bath tub so seek professional help if it's more than just the winter blues.

.