Allowing the Slow Season: What I’m Learning in the Middle of Seasonal Depression

In this deeply honest episode of Clear & On Purpose, Christina opens up about her current experience with seasonal depression—from the middle of it, not the polished “after” view. As the days get darker and the winter heaviness settles in, she shares what this season feels like, what’s helping her stay grounded, and why she’s choosing compassion over constant “high vibes.”

Instead of pushing herself to stay positive or bypass the harder emotions, Christina talks about allowing space for the slower, quieter energy of this time of year. She walks through the practices that support her (movement, time outside, intentional mornings, cozy creativity, supplements, rest) while also naming the reality: sometimes these tools don’t lift you into joy—they simply help you stay steady. And that’s enough.

If you’ve been feeling low, depleted, or unlike yourself lately, this episode will help you feel seen, supported, and reminded that you are not alone—and that this truly is a season, not a failing.

What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• The honest truth about Christina’s current experience with seasonal depression
• Why winter energy naturally pulls us inward—and why that doesn’t mean something is wrong
• The pressure to be “high vibe” in the wellness world and how it backfires
• What helping herself actually looks like in this season
• Why letting yourself slow down is often the fastest way back to your energy
• Simple practices that make winter feel less heavy (even when motivation is low)
• How to meet yourself with compassion instead of judgment
• The power of romanticizing the small, cozy moments
• How to stay present through a low season without pushing or numbing out

SEO Keywords Included Naturally:

seasonal depression, winter blues, low energy, introspection season, winter mental health, emotional wellness, self-compassion, seasonal affective challenges, winter self-care, mindset support, slowing down season, holistic wellness in winter

Perfect For Listeners Who Are:

• Feeling low or fatigued as winter sets in
• Experiencing seasonal depression or seasonal affective symptoms
• Tired of forcing “positivity”
• Wanting a more grounded, compassionate approach to self-care
• Looking for support and real talk instead of pressure
• Ready to honor their internal seasons the way they honor the external on

Resources Mentioned:

• Join The Village: Click here to connect with our community.
• Sign up for the Momentum Challenge: Click here to get started.

Resources & Links

• Follow Christina @christinaslaback
• Email us at hello@christinaslaback.com
• www.christinaslaback.com

Transcript

Seasonal Depression: Embracing the Quiet Space

Christina: [00:00:00] Normally I come on here and I try to share strategies or tips or things that I've learned and mindset shifts and things that I think will be beneficial and help to make your lives easier. Um, and today I'm gonna do something a little different. I have really been having a difficult time and struggling with some seasonal depression.

This. Past few weeks, um, as we've moved into the darker part of the year and, and having the time change and everything up here, which is something that isn't new to me. I do often have this, but for whatever reason it's just hitting a little bit harder or I'm feeling it a little bit more these past couple weeks.

And I wanted to share a little bit about my experience with this and. The steps and things that I'm doing as I'm working through this. So this is an A from the other side, although this is a [00:01:00] kind of cyclical thing that I deal with every year. So I have a pretty good base on what I know works. But this is kind of from in the middle of it, and I wanted to share in hopes that.

Maybe others that are going through a similar thing, whether it's seasonal depression, whether it's just an emotionally hard time or something else might be going on to just share that you're not alone and that there are ways and there are strategies, um, that you can do. But also it's okay if those things.

Don't always give you the results or give you that big high, that impact, and you're not living in that high vibe, high positivity all the time. I think a lot of times, especially in the self and development and this kind of personal wellness space, there's not a lot of space given for these periods of. F [00:02:00] moving towards more introspection of feeling a little bit more calm, of feeling a little bit more low, to be honest sometimes.

'Cause I think the expectation is that we're always supposed to be choosing high vibe. We're always supposed to be moving from a space of positivity. And if we're not, then we are doing something wrong. And I think that while there are opportunities to choose. Where we wanna be, that it's not always that we have to be high vibe all the time, and frankly, trying to get ourselves to there and not really acknowledging and trusting where we're at and allowing the space for that to work its way out and just kind of shoving it down and pretending it doesn't exist.

We'll often delay that process and it can. Lead to the exact opposite of what we're trying, which is to get into this high vibe. It can actually make that whole process be really prolonged. So [00:03:00] I don't know if it's because we had a really long extended feeling of like summer weather and sunshine and all of these things that win this darkness and where we're at, it's, it gets dark by four 30 every day.

There's kind of this gray, overcast cloud. I used to call it the gray overlord, um, that would come down and like sap all of my energy. Um, and it would just kind of leave me feeling really, really low. And I have struggled with this for years and before I had kids. And in those early years it would hit me really, really hard where I would just feel completely out of it just.

Four months on end, basically the whole winter. And I've talked about many times through this opportunity with my clients and through other resources of ways that I have used and that I continue to utilize to [00:04:00] help with that and things that have really worked well. And I don't wanna say that those things aren't working because I do think that they are working and they're keeping me at this more calm level.

Instead of really hitting those real dark lows that I would normally have done. But I do think that also I am using them more as maintenance at this point. I'm using those more as like getting to that baseline and being able to stay at that. So yeah, there are times, and there have been times in the last few weeks, even as I've been feeling like this, where I've had really.

Happy and joyous moments and really been able to appreciate those. And at the same time, I've had moments where for whatever reason or for no reason at all, I've just had this lack of energy and this feeling of just that things aren't all how I want them to be all the [00:05:00] time, or that I just have this low like exhaustive, kind of like this overlaying fatigue.

Um, that comes on everything. And I think that part of me over the past, you know, as I've been going through some of these self development things is that I would try to just mask over it. And what I'm working through and trying to do this year specifically is allowing space for that. So allowing for us slowing down.

Um, and really learning to lean into what this season, not only outside and externally, but what this season internally is. For me, it is cyclical. I know that this happens. I know that it will lift, and I know that I will be able to get through it. And honestly, you know, we're. We're getting so close to the darkest point of the year, and we will, we'll move past that and it'll [00:06:00] start to feel lighter after that.

So I know that that's coming, but allowing myself that space to just sit in it and to give myself that compassion and be able to look at and see what I'm needing in this moment for me rather than what I think that I should be doing or that I. I think that I to flip that switch. So not trying to necessarily like solve my problem in terms of, trying to get into this high, uh, high vibe mood, but rather like, where can I meet myself, where I'm at and be able to continue to choose things that are going to be beneficial for me even as I'm allowing space for what is.

So I do notice, and it is the most annoying thing to me every time, and I know that if you're listening, it's probably gonna be annoying to you too. But I notice that I have a huge [00:07:00] difference in mood when I don't go outside. There was a couple times over the last week where I was just feeling so blah, and I just did not get myself out and to do my normal walks.

And I will tell you that week felt so much heavier as soon as I got myself out and went out and even just did like a walk around the block, there was an immediate difference. Not that I was all of a sudden in a good mood, but I was feeling better. Like that movement and that getting outside and that being in what, from looking outside, just does not look inviting to me.

Where it's cold, where it's, sleety sometimes where it's gray and there's no sun. But being able to go out there and, and see it and be in it and realizing, for me, it's almost never as bad as I'm picturing in my mind. And [00:08:00] also just that fresh air and that ability to look and see and find those opportunities to appreciate what is.

It helps me every time, no matter what mindset I go out in. So even if I'm not in the mindset of looking for the beauty, which I do recommend, it is, it is really good when I am able to get myself in the mindset of like looking for the beauty and what is that will definitely make that switch. But even when I'm going out, just like from a point of I don't wanna do this, but I know that I need to for myself and really kind of being in that grumpy frame of mind to be able to go out there and to be able to.

Just get that movement in and, and do the things that I know that are supportive is always, it always impacts my overall mood. I taking my vitamin D and doing my supplements. I've actually been really good about this the past couple weeks, and I think that that's just for me, for [00:09:00] baseline. I used to think it was more of like a magic pill of like, oh, and then I'll just all of a sudden feel better.

But I think at this point, sometimes it's just to get me to that baseline. So it's just to kind of take the edge off of those feelings and just be able to kind of get me to that neutral ground. And taking the opportunity to start my day, it's been really important for me to be able to start my day from a place of setting the intention.

So whether that's through meditation, whether that's through doing morning pages and like getting the gunk out of being able to do scripting or affirmations or something that I can listen to or that I can just sit with myself. For those few minutes and allowing me, myself, the space. I am so fortunate at this point in time that I do have the opportunity and the space that I can allow for slower mornings and being able to do that and to allow [00:10:00] myself to be able to.

I bring in those opportunities for those lower mornings and not from a place of shaming myself, or if I do want to just go curl up in bed and it's, you know, eight 30 and read a book for a little bit and then just get some extra rest, allowing myself that. Space too. So really just checking in and seeing what is important to me and what would feel good to me.

And doing that from a non-judgmental point of view of a, not having to push through and feeling like I need to be doing more, like allowing my, myself and my body and my mind and all of it to just get what it needs and allowing for that. It's almost like. If you're physically ill and you need to let your body rest, like for me, giving myself that space emotionally and mentally to be able to rest and have that extra bit, it's, it takes a lot more energy for [00:11:00] me to be able to function at this point, and that's okay.

Yeah, because I know that my energy will come back. I know that if I give myself the space to rest now that I will be able to rebound so much faster and it will be so much better later. And allowing spaces and, and things that, activities that I enjoy and that bring more of that like romanticizing, so lighting a candle at home and bringing in those false scents that I love of.

Being able to, you know, cuddle up with some cozy hobbies and doing a puzzle or crocheting a blanket, doing some of those things so that in my brain I can still feel like I'm being productive. I'm doing things while at the same time I'm giving that space for rest and that like coziness because. In the middle of summer, I'm not gonna be wanting to sit inside and do a puzzle or, crochet a blanket.

I wanna be out and I wanna be [00:12:00] enjoying the sun while it's here. So being able to take this time to really enjoy and kind of get into some of those more cozy things and cozy hobbies and baking and, and doing crafting activities and things like that. And again, looking at it from a lens of how can I romanticize this?

How can I look at this as a way of. Seeing the beauty in it and seeing how it's bringing more to my life and being able to be really present in what I'm doing versus just numbing out and like sitting there and scrolling on my phone all night. And those kinds of things are really helping me to just lean into this.

So it's not that I'm. Super, super low. It's not that I am super, super high. I'm just in a very calm state with it and allowing for it. And as I'm doing that, I'm noticing [00:13:00] that I'm feeling more present. I'm feeling more connected. I'm able to have more of an appreciation for this season being just a season.

And I think so often we get into the middle of something and we don't see an end. And knowing that this is just a season, this is just a little snippet of my year, this is just a tiny snippet of my life. And the more that I can give myself the grace and the opportunity to be able to be where I am now.

Okay. The more that I'm going to be present to be able to appreciate the opportunities when I am where I am in the future, when that energy and that positivity and that that vibe comes back. So I know this is a little bit different. I hope that this gave you some permission, if this is something that you struggle with, if there's other things in your [00:14:00] life that are just causing a little bit of downness.

To be able to give yourself the space and the compassion and to give yourself the permission to feel what you're feeling and not bottle it away, but allow it the space so that it can come through and it can come out. And that's where you're gonna find your way back to that happy back to that joy, back to that positivity is by going through, not by pushing down.