Holiday stress and the winter blues
By Kate Short

In San Miguel, we are immersed in a diverse population, many with interests in health and healing. And the majority of these people are women, like me. As a holistic health counselor, I see the need for more dialogue about what is happening in our healing community and to create a community of health-minded women and open the channels of communication to the wealth of information and experiences contained in our beautiful San Miguel.

Haven’t we all had those “winter blues” when you feel bone-tired all the time? You know there is a ton you “need” to do, but you don’t have the energy to lift a finger, not to mention hang Christmas decorations or prepare for family festivities. Even after sleeping, you don’t feel truly rested because your mind is still spinning like a mechanical top. Maybe you just want to pull your blankets over your head until winter is over. Or maybe there’s another option.

Winter is the time of year when nature hibernates. It’s not showy, flashy or exposed. It’s quite hidden, inside its own skin, nurturing wounds and recuperating from the year. What do bears, those fiercest of forest animals do? In contrast to Mother Nature, what are most people doing during winter? Going to parties, extending social circles, being more extroverted than ever; in essence, wearing themselves down. It’s also the time of year, not coincidentally, when people get the most colds, flus and illnesses. Your bodies are telling you that this is the time to slow down, go within and find refuge. It’s time you started to listen.

I remember growing up, how my grandmother made the holidays “picture perfect.” She baked endlessly, decorated the house from top to bottom, and made sure that everyone was happy. She had good intentions, but this felt like a charade. But the era in which she grew up told society that it was not okay for women to be unhappy, especially during the holidays. So my grandmother “Nana” was going to be happy, push or pull. But at what cost? She died, at the spry age of 72, of a heart attack in her sleep. I deeply believe that this was in large part from all the millions of “negative” emotions and thoughts that she continuously suppressed, for fear of being un-ladylike.

The problem with suppression is that it never stays that way, especially in the case of emotions. Emotions always tend to bubble up, either with an explosion or depression, then later in physical cases of cancer and autoimmune diseases. When emotions cannot be expressed, they may feel so heavy that the woman feels she will never escape their grasp. Christiane Northrup, MD, author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom and an expert on women’s health, notes that “people who are exposed to what they perceive as inescapable stress actually release opioidlike substances that literally numb the cells of their bodies, rendering them incapable of destroying cancer cells and bacteria if this goes on chronically.” The body physically goes into an immune depression and gives up fighting for its own protection. Northrup continues, “It is not the stress itself that creates immune system problems. It is, rather, the perception that the stress is inescapable— that there is nothing a person can do to prevent it— that is associated with immune system suppression.”

During periods of extreme stress, we tend to “catch” colds or feel run down. Aside from the simple biological fact that stress overstrains the adrenals, it can also overwhelm us to the point of complete and utter withdrawal from life. It’s easy to see the direct connection between stress, depression and immune suppression. When you are depressed, it’s as if you are saying to your body, “Why fight? You’re just going to lose anyway.” Life energy is the desire to live, to reproduce, to thrive. In the depth of your depression, the thoughts you are sending to your body and from your body are literally depressing its proper functioning, suppressing your protective front and your body’s will to fight for its own survival.

Many times depression is completely illogical and cannot be dealt with on an intellectual level. Memories can be buried deep within the cells of your body, and although you cannot still recall the memory, it is there and still affecting your present health, unless you bring them up to be healed by the “light of day” (consciousness).

Use this hibernation season to heal those hidden fears, to go inside yourself and confront what is weighing on your mind and body. If it feels like too much, seek professional assistance. Have a healthy holiday season, one less stress at a time.

Kate Short, a graduate from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York, is a certified holistic health counselor with the Open Door Retreat, a recovery center in San Miguel. She also teaches cooking classes based on the wisdom of eating seasonally and locally. She can be reached at flowtome@yahoo.com.