Leeds: Blue Monday - Your reflections and positivity - video Dailymotion

Here are some of your ‘Blue Monday’ reflections and how you keep positive during this time of year.

Transcript

00:00I always try and distance myself from Blue Monday because if you've got those struggles in the winter,

00:06you probably have those struggles in the summer and stuff like that, those concerns I suppose,

00:09and I appreciate what people are saying around like the dark, the longer nights.

00:12I was meant to be born in mid-January and thankfully I was two weeks late but

00:15no one would ever come out for my birthday because they'd have no money would they?

00:18The difficulties around staying positive in January or the darker months are the fact that

00:24if you're working you don't hardly ever see daylight. I'm in the very lucky position of

00:30being retired now so I'm really enjoying being out in the daylight.

00:33I don't think January is sad. I like January. I like the winter months. I think it's fun.

00:37I think it's different when you're a student or you work in bars because this is holiday time.

00:41This is like rest and relaxation, not sadness.

00:45Yeah and you said your finances are low in January but my finances are low in every month

00:50so no real difference for me.

00:52It's been Blue Day Monday for a long time because the economy's in a mess

00:58and people are short of money.

01:03I've not heard about Blue Monday but it was a cold winter this time.

01:09I've been here for the past two years and this Jan was too cold. It was freezing cold.

01:16But you need to keep going. Every day is an opportunity.

01:19I've been to Bradford. I was helping at a soup kitchen so when you see the smile on their face

01:25and you're not doing much but people smile and you feel grateful that you get all these

01:32opportunities here.

01:33Make sure you've got things you can do at home. I know some people especially during

01:36the pandemic have really struggled if a lot of their hobbies were going out and socialising in

01:41the real world and when you can't do that or if money's an issue or transport's an issue or it's

01:44really icy and slippy or you don't like going out in the dark then having those at home type

01:50stuff is really helpful.

01:51I'm a part of a theatre group near where I live. Finding things like that that you can

01:55do is just super. It's great. That sort of stuff keeps me going because it's something to focus on.