Dr. Susan Bettis, Director of Training & Clinical Services who oversees our counseling program, offers reflections and mental health tips for the last days of winter and beyond.
Last month provided a midwinter spring in its own season. Crocuses came up and trees bloomed early. Then a late snowfall interrupted, nature’s attempt to tell us who the boss really is. The birds that typically come along in March to eat the buds will be late for the feast. Unfortunately, the regular rhythms of the season seem to be vanishing.
Many of life’s other rhythms have been interrupted also. There was a time when the flow of the day and the week were predictable. Laundry was done on Monday and Tuesday was for ironing. You went to bed at a time when you were assured a good night’s sleep, not just when your late-night TV shows were over.
We are mammals, after all, attuned to seasons, sunlight, cycles of night and day that we as a species organized our lives around. Now too often we structure our lives around colorful screens and their ensuing attraction to a life out of time with natural rhythms. Then we wonder why depression and stress have increased astronomically.
Screen Time Challenge
Here’s a challenge to each of you this week: Start as early as you can each day by first turning off your phone, then your tablet, then your laptop and every other screen. Finally, turn off that large glowing invasion called a television set. Go to bed, read a book. No, not on your Kindle. Turn the light out about an hour early. Do this for five days and then see what your mood is like at the end of those five days. As the temperatures remain low, hunker down in your bed, take a deep breath, and listen to the cold winds blow. You are a mammal again, congratulations.
For more information about support for stress and depression, contact Dr. Bettis at 503.226.3021 ext. 220.