{"id":5945,"date":"2017-11-28T13:35:38","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T19:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pastorbrad.blog\/?p=3631"},"modified":"2017-11-28T13:35:38","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T19:35:38","slug":"life-hacks-for-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental Health Life Hacks for the Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>By Rick Qualls<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>As a child every Thanksgiving-Christmas holiday I would become sick.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t misunderstand. Mine was a \u201cLeave It To Beaver\u201d childhood. It was an idyllic 1950\u2019s childhood where I was cared for and loved.<\/p>\n<p>I would get so excited I couldn\u2019t contain myself.<\/p>\n<p>There were long trips to visit grandparents we didn\u2019t see often. Sears and Wards offered additional catalogs with large children\u2019s sections of fascinating toys. Wish books we called them. I studied them and marked the pages, so mom and dad wouldn\u2019t miss my favorite requests. And I was an ardent believer in Santa Claus\u2026even after I learned it was Santa Qualls that brought the gifts.<\/p>\n<p>The holidays can be the most wonderful time of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Today, as an adult with bipolar, I can still get sick during the holidays.<\/p>\n<p>By the time I became an adult the ugly face of depression cycled into my life. The winter and holidays can now trigger a bipolar-depressive relapse. As the days get shorter and grayer, my spirits began to fall.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, recent years have been better because of bipolar life hacks I have discovered. Here are a few:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Winter days and holidays are better when I keep my routine. I stay on my medicine. Not taking my medicine regularly will trigger a depressive relapse.<\/li>\n<li>Sometimes adjustments are made in my meds as the season starts. I just had a session with my doctor in which an adjustment was made.<\/li>\n<li>I have found that sleep difficulties can set off my depression. It does not take many sleep deprived nights to cause major setbacks. I have learned that I function best with nine hours of sleep. Everyone is different, but it is important to know what your sleep cycle needs to be.<\/li>\n<li>I trim the Christmas tree but also trim my schedule. Some time ago I learned what is called the Pareto Principle which states that 80% of your reward comes from 20% of your effort. While the percentages may be argued I have learned that about 20% of what I do bring 80% of my satisfaction.<\/li>\n<li>So I trim the schedule to make sure things of ultimate importance are done. It allows me to say, \u201cNo\u201d to things that take energy I do not have. That helps me to keep my energy balanced.<\/li>\n<li>These days my muscles and joints are not flexible, but my attitude is. If one of my grown kids can\u2019t be at home on Christmas or Thanksgiving, I can let that go. I just make a point of enjoying them when they can. This flexibility makes life easier for them from the stress of trying to please other family members.<\/li>\n<li>Accepting other family members as they are and not expecting someone\u2019s personality to change makes things smoother. Over-expecting creates pressure for me and everyone else. Everyone needs their emotional space, including me!<\/li>\n<li>What about the gray, dreary days? I turn on the sunlight. In my experience, a sunlamp used for Seasonal Affective Disorder helps my bipolar. So if the sun is hiding, the light comes on.<\/li>\n<li>I also have learned that the light is best used early in the day. I discovered when using it in the evening it will prevent sleep, even overcoming my sleep meds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What are your mental health life hacks?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><em><strong>\u201cSo encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.\u201d 1Thessalonians 5:11<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><em><strong>\u201cLet everything you say be good and helpful so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. \u201cEph 4:29<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>What are your mental health life hacks? Share them in the comments. It may make a big difference for someone.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:center;\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-2667\" src=\"https:\/\/pastorbraddotblog.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/quails-bio-slide.jpg\" alt=\"Quails-bio-slide\" width=\"435\" height=\"326\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"grammarly-disable-indicator\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I trim the Christmas tree but also trim my schedule. Some time ago I learned what is called the Pareto Principle which states that 80% of your reward comes from 20% of your effort. While the percentages may be argued I have learned that about 20% of what I do bring 80% of my satisfaction.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[479],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holidays"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.1 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Fresh Hope for Mental Health - Mental Health Life Hacks for the Holidays<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mental Health Life Hacks for the Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I trim the Christmas tree but also trim my schedule. Some time ago I learned what is called the Pareto Principle which states that 80% of your reward comes from 20% of your effort. While the percentages may be argued I have learned that about 20% of what I do bring 80% of my satisfaction.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fresh Hope for Mental Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-28T19:35:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brad\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Escrito por\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brad\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Tiempo de lectura\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutos\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brad\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fa24068a17649cd52cdc8b373f48a714\"},\"headline\":\"Mental Health Life Hacks for the Holidays\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-28T19:35:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":618,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pastorbraddotblog.files.wordpress.com\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/quails-bio-slide.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Holidays\"],\"inLanguage\":\"es\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\\\/\",\"name\":\"Fresh Hope for Mental Health - Mental Health Life Hacks for the Holidays\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pastorbraddotblog.files.wordpress.com\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/quails-bio-slide.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-28T19:35:38+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pastorbraddotblog.files.wordpress.com\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/quails-bio-slide.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pastorbraddotblog.files.wordpress.com\\\/2017\\\/08\\\/quails-bio-slide.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/\",\"name\":\"Fresh Hope for Mental Health\",\"description\":\"Empowering Those with a Mental Health Challenge Along with Their Loved Ones to Live Full, Rich and Hope-filled Lives\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"es\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Fresh Hope for Mental Health\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/Fresh-Hope-for-Mental-Health-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/Fresh-Hope-for-Mental-Health-Logo.png\",\"width\":1013,\"height\":531,\"caption\":\"Fresh Hope for Mental Health\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/fa24068a17649cd52cdc8b373f48a714\",\"name\":\"Brad\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"es\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4393d4be8ea4281f87543e20e1d172f80750e31dfba073ed90634adb8154d63d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4393d4be8ea4281f87543e20e1d172f80750e31dfba073ed90634adb8154d63d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4393d4be8ea4281f87543e20e1d172f80750e31dfba073ed90634adb8154d63d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Brad\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/freshhope.us\\\/es\\\/author\\\/brad-hoefs\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fresh Hope for Mental Health - Mental Health Life Hacks for the Holidays","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\/","og_locale":"es_MX","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mental Health Life Hacks for the Holidays","og_description":"I trim the Christmas tree but also trim my schedule. Some time ago I learned what is called the Pareto Principle which states that 80% of your reward comes from 20% of your effort. While the percentages may be argued I have learned that about 20% of what I do bring 80% of my satisfaction.","og_url":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\/","og_site_name":"Fresh Hope for Mental Health","article_published_time":"2017-11-28T19:35:38+00:00","author":"Brad","twitter_misc":{"Escrito por":"Brad","Tiempo de lectura":"3 minutos"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\/"},"author":{"name":"Brad","@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/#\/schema\/person\/fa24068a17649cd52cdc8b373f48a714"},"headline":"Mental Health Life Hacks for the Holidays","datePublished":"2017-11-28T19:35:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\/"},"wordCount":618,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pastorbraddotblog.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/quails-bio-slide.jpg","articleSection":["Holidays"],"inLanguage":"es"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\/","url":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\/","name":"Fresh Hope for Mental Health - Mental Health Life Hacks for the Holidays","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pastorbraddotblog.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/quails-bio-slide.jpg","datePublished":"2017-11-28T19:35:38+00:00","inLanguage":"es","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/freshhope.us\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es","@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/life-hacks-for-the-holidays\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pastorbraddotblog.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/quails-bio-slide.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pastorbraddotblog.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/08\/quails-bio-slide.jpg"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/","name":"Fresh Hope para la Salud Mental","description":"Ayudar a las personas con problemas de salud mental y a sus seres queridos a vivir vidas plenas, enriquecedoras y llenas de esperanza.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"es"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/#organization","name":"Fresh Hope para la Salud Mental","url":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es","@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Fresh-Hope-for-Mental-Health-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Fresh-Hope-for-Mental-Health-Logo.png","width":1013,"height":531,"caption":"Fresh Hope for Mental Health"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/#\/schema\/person\/fa24068a17649cd52cdc8b373f48a714","name":"Brad","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"es","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4393d4be8ea4281f87543e20e1d172f80750e31dfba073ed90634adb8154d63d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4393d4be8ea4281f87543e20e1d172f80750e31dfba073ed90634adb8154d63d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4393d4be8ea4281f87543e20e1d172f80750e31dfba073ed90634adb8154d63d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Brad"},"url":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/author\/brad-hoefs\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}