HOW TO BEAT THE MID-YEAR SLUMP

We are halfway through the year and you are feeling like you aren’t getting anywhere with your goals. In fact, everyday seems like a new mountain of chores for you to scale. No matter how hard you try, you can’t shake the feelings and ‘get over it’. Well, you may actually have a real issue on your hands: the mid-year slump.

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The mid-year slump vs burnout
Burnout is constant, relentless, work-related stress that can make you physically ill. The slump is a bit more vague, a general feeling of not being in control or making progress. If burnout is like drowning, the slump is like treading water with tired legs.

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In some cases, the slump may be seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. This is a depression that typically hits during autumn and winter. Symptoms include feeling sad, low on energy, uninterested in usual activities, oversleeping and gaining weight. It is more common among women and young people. Less sunlight and shifting daylight hours can mess with your biological clock, which regulates mood, sleep and hormones.

Sunlight helps produce vitamin D, so catching less rays in winter can cause a deficiency that can affect your mood. The lack of sunlight may also stimulate an overproduction of melatonin, a chemical that affects sleep patterns as well. That would make you feel sluggish and sleepy during winter.

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Whether it’s SAD or just a miserable old slump, you can’t sustain interest in your daily tasks if your goals no longer hold your interest, says Alex Kingsmill, Director of Upstairs Coaching Consultancy in Australia.

That’s why part of the solution is looking at goals again.

Getting better
More time outdoors and a vitamin D supplement will do you good if SAD is the problem. If the depression gets bad, speak to your doctor about antidepressants and/or other treatment options



Reassess
It's hard to stay motivated if you don’t truly believe you can achieve something. But don’t view setbacks as a failure. See them as a chance to rethink goals and make them more manageable. Focus on the year’s positives so far and set new goals that you hope to achieve by the year end. Break them up into mini-goals. It will perk you up to reach them, one after the other.

Move the goal posts
Slumps can happen when you’ve worked so hard on something that you get too tired to keep up the pace. Time to take a break with something you enjoy and makes you feel good. When you get back, see if you’re still interested in the task or would rather move on.

Stay healthy
Eating right and getting even modest exercise is always important. Vitamin C is used up quickly when you’re under stress and vitamin B is depleted by alcohol and sugary snacks. Stress eats up calcium and magnesium, so a multivitamin and mineral supplement is a good idea.

Keep it realistic
Be kind to yourself. Pat yourself on the back for every win and don’t judge yourself harshly for slip-ups. Keep engaging with the world even if you don’t feel like it.

On bad days, don’t do nothing. If you keep moving (even just the smallest of activity), you’ll pick up momentum again.

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