Friday, December 8, 2017

Giftmas Guest Post: Beth Cato on Shining a Light During Hard Times

Rhonda Parrish has organized the Giftmas Blog Tour to raise funds for the Edmonton Food Bank.
https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/giftmas-blog-tour-2017-supports-the-edmonton-food-/

You can also enter to win loads of prizes! Scroll down to find a Rafflecopter giveaway.

The theme of Giftmas this year is "Shine a Light." This put me in mind of another blog event I took part in recently, Gail Z. Martin's #HoldOnToTheLight campaign where authors speak up about mental illness.

The holidays are often an especially difficult time for those who battle depression and other issues. This has been my experience, too. I am diagnosed with a veritable variety-pack of mental disorders (depression, generalized anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, agoraphobia). The holidays can make everything feel profoundly more negative. There are more things to do. More expectations. More worries. More money spent. Loved ones are far away--or gone forever. The bright and shiny cheerfulness of the season can feel like salt on a wound.

You may feel hopeless, but please, hold on to whatever light you can find. Look to the comforts of fandom. Watch favorite movies. Read books. Lose yourself in other, better worlds.


Even if you can't stand to look in the mirror, look at others who may be in need. Sometimes, when I'm most mired in darkness, it's easier to help others than to help myself. I have found comfort in feeling useful rather than useless, the way I saw myself most of the time. Those brief moments of light helped me to get by. To survive.


Please enter the giveaway for the chance to win books and other goodies that just might brighten your day. But most importantly, try to be kind to yourself. The holidays will pass. Winter will end. Better times will come. Hold on to the light.

https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/giftmas-blog-tour-2017-supports-the-edmonton-food-/


 
Nebula-nominated Beth Cato is the author of the Clockwork Dagger duology and the new Blood of Earth Trilogy from Harper Voyager. Her newest novel is CALL OF FIRE. She’s a Hanford, California native transplanted to the Arizona desert, where she lives with her husband and son. Follow her at BethCato.com and on Twitter at @BethCato.



 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

2 comments:

  1. This resonates. My chronic depression gets so much worse in the winter. But as you say, lifting someone else up actually lifts me up as well.

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  2. I really like the mantra to be kind to yourself. I've been taking one of Kristin Neff's online courses, and it's amazing how much it helps.

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