Coping with Post-Holiday (and other) Let Down Depression

The holidays and other special events in our lives can be incredibly wonderful and make you feel as though you're on cloud nine. Unfortunately the let down after the holidays and other memorable times can be brutal, particularly for those of us who live with depression. As so many of us with migraine disease do.

I just experienced this in December. November was a really fun month for me. First I went to Scottsdale, Arizona, for the American Headache Society Symposium. (Where I acquired lots of interesting and exciting information to share with you guys!) I was able to incorporate some awesome down time with a couple of good friends while we were there, too. And celebrated my 35th birthday.

Then came Thanksgiving the following week, which is my favorite holiday. My husband and I hosted my in-laws and had a wonderful meal and a really nice time together.

Finally, my husband and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary on November 30th. We went to a football game at our alma mater (one of our favorite shared hobbies) and went away overnight to stay in the hotel where we spent our wedding night and had a wonderful, special meal together.

All of these events were just as fun as I'd hoped they'd be. But once they were over I started to feel like there was nothing to look forward to and sank into an incredibly deep, debilitating depression. For a good three weeks I barely got out of bed. I didn't answer my phone. I didn't reach out to family or friends. I was just completely busted down and low.

I finally started to come out of my foggy hole the week of Christmas. I was still struggling, but I knew that spending time with my family and husband would help, and it did. It has been hard for me to avoid beating myself up for not doing more to prepare for Christmas. I did the bare minimum of shopping for gifts, many of which were late. I did nothing to decorate the house and didn't do any of the baking or cooking I usually love.

But it's all okay. I'm back on firmer ground, and I'm trying hard to do the things each day that keep me feeling as well as possible.

Have you dealt with this? Is the post-holiday season hard for you? How do you cope?