Features
6 Tips for Surviving Depression During the Holidays
The holidays can bring different emotions to light for each of us. While we’ll see pictures posted of joyful times all over social media, magazines, and television, it’s not always a joyous season for everyone. Yes, some people are looking forward to spending time with family, while others are stressing over forced conversations, unpredictable outbursts, and random arguments with loved ones that they avoided all year.
Of course, no family is perfect, but we have to ensure that we remain in a safe and comfortable place while integrating the holidays and family time. Be sure to avoid the common triggers that may take you to a different place. Feeling down because of the loss of a loved one or simply being alone can easily make you depressed. Here are six tips that will help you make it through the holiday season without becoming depressed.
1. Don’t Set Unrealistic Expectations– Some people don’t change. Be sure not to expect anything from anyone but remain pleasant and comfortable with the position that you have taken in the past. Seeking approval from people who don’t understand you won’t help the situation, it will only worsen it.
2. Spend Time with Close Friends– You can’t choose your family, but you can choose your friends. Spending time with people who genuinely love and accept will make the holidays much easier to tolerate. Go where the love is and where you are loved most. Don’t focus on things or people you can’t change.
3. Stay Away from Social Media– Social media might bring up some unwanted emotions and feelings. It’s completely normal for people to post pictures of them enjoying the holiday season and the joy that it brings, but it might make you feel some way. Log off for the day if you’re not feeling it.
4. Practice Self-Care– Do something for yourself! Whether it is going on a shopping spree, getting well-needed rest, working on your craft or setting future goals. Those positive steps will reassure you and help you to be hopeful about what’s to come.
5. Create Your Own Traditions– Traditions can be outdated, or maybe you grew up not really having any, so now’s the chance to create your own. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. As long as it makes you happy and sets you free, create new traditions in your life.
6.Seek Professional Help– Some of us are carrying the weight of the world on on shoulders, and we don’t even know it. Why it may look like we have it all together, most of us don’t. Seeking professional guidance is another way to get clarity on your feelings and emotions before they spiral out of control. There’s nothing wrong with speaking your truth, we all deserve it.
Kosi’s emergence on the Afrobeat scene feels both familiar and fresh. Rooted in a childhood shaped by gospel music and choir rehearsals, his sound carries the discipline and soul of his church background. But, there’s also a raw edge, drawn from the streets of Festac, Lagos, that gives his music a grittier, lived-in texture. The blend is strikingly obvious as you’d hear a voice trained in harmony and a message born of hustle.
The artist’s approach to songwriting is intentional, pulling from personal experiences and everyday realities rather than chasing empty trends. It’s this mix of vulnerability and confidence that has quickly earned him attention within Lagos‘s music circles, even though he has just a few releases. Kosi is already making a case for himself as a voice that can stand out in the crowd, honest, grounded, and undeniably Afrobeat.
A man places a Russian national flag on a balcony of a residential building in Lysychansk, eastern Ukraine, which is now territory under the control of the self-described Luhansk People’s Republic
As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 132nd day, we take a look at the main developments.
Here are the key events so far on Tuesday, July 5.
Fighting
- Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his troops have “no alternative” but to “push back and destroy the offensive potential” of Russian forces, as the battle moves from Luhansk to nearby Donetsk.
- Ukrainian forces that retreated from Lysychansk are now holding the line between Bakhmut and Sloviansk, preparing to fend off a further Russian advance, Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said.
- President Vladimir Putin congratulated Russian troops on “liberating” the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk.
- At least 345 children have died in Ukraine as a result of Russia’s invasion and 644 have been wounded, the prosecutor general’s office reported.
Diplomacy
- Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson met Ukraine’s president in Kyiv, with the two parties signing a joint statement on defence and energy cooperation.
- Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will fly to Hanoi on Tuesday for a two-day visit to Vietnam before heading to a G20 meeting later this week in Indonesia, the Vietnamese government said.
- Zelenskyy thanked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for supporting a ban on Russian teams and athletes competing in most Olympic sports.
- Putin did not congratulate President Joe Biden on the United States’ Independence Day on July 4 due to “unfriendly” relations, the Kremlin said.
Economy
- Ukraine needs $750bn for a recovery plan, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a Ukraine Recovery Conference hosted by Switzerland.
- Ukraine is holding talks with Turkey and the United Nations to secure guarantees for grain exports from Ukrainian ports, Zelenskyy said.
- Britain said it would on Tuesday introduce new economic, trade and transport sanctions on Belarus over its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and also sanctioned six Russians it said were spreading disinformation.
- Belarus said it was freezing foreign shareholdings in 190 Belarusian companies, including the software engineering company EPAM Systems and Lukoil Belarus, in response to Western sanctions.
Race plays key factor in a society where 10 percent of population owns more than 80 percent of wealth, World Bank says.
South Africa is the most unequal country in the world, with race playing a determining factor in a society where 10 percent of the population owns more than 80 percent of the wealth, a World Bank report has said.
“South Africa… is the most unequal country in the world, ranking first among 164 countries,” the Washington-based institution said Wednesday in a report, Inequality in Southern Africa.
Almost three decades after the end of apartheid, “race remains a key driver of high inequality in South Africa, due to its impact on education and the labor market,” it said.
When race is considered as a factor in income disparities, the report added, “its contribution to income inequality amounts to 41 percent, while contribution of education is reduced to 30 percent.
“The legacy of colonialism and apartheid, rooted in racial and spatial segregation, continues to reinforce inequality.”
The country’s neighbours that make up the rest of the Southern African Customs Union – Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho and Namibia – established in 1910, all finish higher on the list of the most unequal countries in the world.
In the region, women earn on average 30 percent less than men with the same level of education with the pay gap as wide as 38 percent in Namibia and South Africa.
The uneven distribution of agricultural land is also a factor driving inequality, especially in rural areas.
In Namibia, 70 percent of the 39.7 million hectares (98.1 million acres) of commercial agricultural land “still belong to Namibians of European descent”, the World Bank said.
The report was produced before the COVID-19 pandemic and its authors used the Gini coefficient – an indicator of income inequality – to rank countries.
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