5 Ways to Dress Up Your Mental Illness for the Holidays

The conversation around mental illness is getting better and more open, but your conversations with your Aunt Tamara are only getting more strained and less fun. Since you can't Marie Kondo your family (maybe you should, though), here's a couple cute, festive ideas for dressing up your mental illness for the holidays!

1. "I'm an artist."

This way, your mood swings and outbursts are simply the results of creative energy. You weren't crying in your room while you were supposed to be helping to cook potatoes- that was practice for an audition.

2. Blame your love life.

Even if your family doesn't understand the very real effects of chemicals misbehaving in your brain, they will commiserate with you over being a star-crossed or jilted lover. 

3. Be the "Quirky Cousin"

Everyone in the family has to have their "thing". Since your cousins already have career success and fulfilling family life covered, you've got to have something. So, the new, edgy haircut is definitely not the result of a psychological break you had last week. It's a daring look to show your individuality.

4. Get holiday-themed pajamas

That way, when you don't get dressed in the morning, it'll look like you're being festive. Having a few tacky sweaters to rotate through will help the look. Also, curl up with a cozy blanket and hot cocoa. Again, if anybody asks, you're being festive for the winter season! Not paralyzed by depression!

5. As an absolute last resort, redirect the conversation to politics. Then everyone will be so angry and sad you won't stand out!

Tag urself, I'm #i'manartist.

5 Small Ways to Win a Battle with Depression

Some days, getting out of bed isn’t going to happen. These aren’t for those days (and I understand those days, trust me). These are for the days when you’ve got a fighting chance, and I want to help you make the most out of those days.

Here are five that help me feel less like trash on days when I really need that.


Get up when you say you’ll get up. Even if it hurts and you’re tired and crying, a small part of your heart will say, “Wow. I still listen to myself.” That little glow of trusting yourself might grow into surmounting an even more difficult task next...

Take a shower. I don’t recommend a bath, despite all the self-care posts to the contrary. There’s too much of an opportunity to lay there in your own filth and stare at the water like an entranced oracle in the pool at Delphi. For hours. “There will be a victory,” my ass.

Put on makeup. Trick your brain into thinking you care about how you look. It’ll get confused, if only for a moment.



Go outside. Even just for a walk around the block. If you can get dressed, walk downstairs, and get a little sunshine, you’ve effectively reminded yourself that you’re a human being who can do things. Remember to wear sunscreen though, because the sun is a duplicitous bastard who wants to murder you with radiation.



Text a friend. Bonus points for letting them know you’re feeling shitty today. Because you are loved, and that’s really hard to see without a reminder from a brain that isn’t yours. Bonus bonus points if your friend is also sad and now you can be sad together, which is way less sad.



Maybe you won’t win the war (I think Science has to do that, tbh) but you’ll remind yourself that you’re a warrior, baby. And today, even better: you’re a winner.

Tag urself, I’m #textafriend. So much easier than fucking with mascara.