Young and wasted: Seeking Sunshine

When depression hits......

It's January - officially the most depressing month of the year. The glitter and sparkle of Christmas has been packed away until December, the summer seems light years away and the windscreen wipers on my car keep freezing to my fecking windscreen.

It was while I was chiseling said wipers free recently that I had some kind of mini-breakdown. My hours at work had been cut drastically (a job, by the way, that was only ever meant to be a temporary thing to pay the bills, but that has now become my main and only job), the machine at the bank just laughed at me every time I tried to take cash out and the sky was rabbit butt grey for the fiftieth day in the row. Sobbing against my car, a scraper in one hand and my head in the other was not something I started the day intending to do, but hey ho it gave the neighbours something to talk about.

Worryingly it seems, I'm not the only twenty something to experience this kind of freak out. Recent research by Greenwich University discovered that alarmingly 75% of women between the ages of 26 and 30 are experiencing what I have now dubbed 'Defrosting the car meltdown.' (This may also read; 'My hair is greasy meltdown,' ' I have nothing to wear meltdown' and the ever popular ' cashpoint won't pay out meltdown).

The pressure to have relationships, careers and finances in a healthy place by the time young women hit thirty has become more intense than ever and with social media such as Facebook and Twitter out there rubbing our noses in other peoples achievements, it is becoming easier and easier to feel like a failure.

So, how do us girls survive in a world that seems to be getting increasingly darker? Seek out the sunshine that's how.

Forget Facebook

First things first. Social media is a great way to stay in touch, but we all must learn to ditch the daily compara-thon. How many times have you updated your status when you've got a new bloke, a new job or when you're off on holiday? Humans like to brag whether we admit to it or not and it's very easy to get a warped version of someone else's life from a status update. Katie-whatserface might have a super duper job as a lawyer on thirty grand a year, but what she's not telling you is that her husband left her for a younger model and that she's so exhausted by the time she gets home that she can't even make it through Emmerdale without falling asleep, let alone have a social life.
Don't compare yourself to anybody else, especially not through social media.

Be positive

As my mother led me away from my car and into the house in a blur of snot and tears, she told me that what I really needed was a bit of positivity and she was right. Positivity breeds positivity.

Savour the moment

Okay so savouring the moment might not help you get your dream career but it will help you to be a calmer, more relaxed and confident person, which is exactly what any employer out there will be looking for. Listen to your favourite music, see people who bring out the fun side of you, learn to notice and enjoy positive experiences instead of dwelling on bad ones. Every little helps.

Learn optimism

If you assume everything will go wrong it probably will. Believe me I'm an expert! Turn every bad experience into a positive one. If you fail at a job interview consider what you were missing and try to work on improving that about yourself (always ask for feedback from every interview). Focus on the things that you are already good at and remind yourself that bad times pass.