The Blahs 

          Yeah, it happens to all of us. We find ourselves caught in the wasteland between depression and joy. It seems like winter, lack of sunshine, Covid restrictions, news of riots, blah, blah, blah, all piles up and everything turns gray.

          Psychology Today defines it as: ““Lack of motivation and interest. Low libido. Feeling bored. Feeling tired. Withdrawing from others. Feeling negative about yourself — how you look, your sense of the future, feeling stuck. Negative about others — pet peeves rising up, feeling critical and sensitive. Life is gray.

          We weren’t the first to fell this way, either.  Solomon (the Bible says he is “Teacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem” said this at the very beginning of Ecclesiastes: "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."

          A more severe feeling in the midst of winter is SAD – seasonal affective disorder. But that is depression that usually happens when there is a lack of sunlight. The symptoms are the same as the “blahs”, but more severe.

          OK. What are we to do when we just feel . . .blah? Well, hang on because I’ve got some advice.

          First of all, increase your water intake. It’s cheap and it’s effective. Dehydration not only leads to health problems, it also is a major contributor to the blahs. It messes with our electrolytes which in turn affects our mood.

          Next, relax. That’s a whole lot different from being a vegetable. Relaxing is not the same as doing nothing; sitting on the couch. Relaxing is as much physical as it is mental. It may mean a walk. Yeah, maybe even in the rain. It may mean meditating and trying to discover the source of the blahs. I find that praying is sometimes so relaxing that I drift off to sleep.

          Which brings me to another plan: get more sleep. If you haven’t been sleeping well lately, that can lead to felling blah.

          My theology professor told me that he could always tell when he was in a blah mood. He would find more change (money) as he walked across the campus. That didn’t make sense to me until he explained. Walking around with his head down allowed him to see the money when he should have been walking with his head held high seeing the beauty in the world. Good advice.

          Bottom line: God did not create us to be joyful all the time. The same writer of Ecclesiastes said: There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens . . . a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. Ecclesiastes 3

          May God bless you with hope, sunshine, and peace as we move through winter and all the rest of the stuff that fills our lives.

          Doug

 

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