Little is said about this in the workplace because little is said about mental health in the workplace, but the truth is that for many people getting up every day costs. In Spain, 2,4 million people suffer from depression, 5,2% of the population, and the majority continue to go to their workplace and struggle daily to continue “functioning”, to continue supporting their family members or taking care of those who care for them. surround. Not all drop out, although the quality of their work and their productivity decrease.
There is no doubt that the holidays exacerbate these feelings and that questions about the meaning of life reappear at Christmas that make us feel worse. For many it is not a time to share (it is common to see news reports of loneliness on Christmas Eve) but rather moments to wonder if living is really worth it.
One of the things that psychologists always recommend is not to make important decisions when you are too depressed. The sadness filter makes those decisions often wrong. For all those sad and / or depressed it is better to wait until you feel better. It is not wrong to reexamine our lives and make sense of them. In fact, there are therapies where this sense is sought to feel better and perhaps one of our end-of-year resolutions should be that exam. In any case, we must accept that we all find difficult moments in our lives, that we all feel sad, that sadness is like fever, it warns us that we must take care of ourselves and make changes. Depression and sadness are engines that accelerate the adoption of new behaviors that help better adaptation.
It is also true that depression can paralyze us and a lack of energy can block us. In these cases we may need the help of a professional and if our company has an Employee Assistance Program (PAE) it is time to pick up the phone and access qualified professionals capable of guiding us through these difficult times. Living is indeed difficult for most people at some point in life, but life is also full of good moments that fill us with happiness. The important thing is to develop our resilience in order to stoically face those bad moments and know how to enjoy the good ones.