Low energy doesn’t mean you’re lazy or broken. Especially in winter.

In this episode, we talk about how to cope on low-capacity days when everything feels heavy. The days when motivation disappears, anxiety symptoms feel louder, loneliness and isolation creep in, and even simple tasks feel overwhelming. The days when stress and guilt show up and pushing yourself only makes things worse.

You’ll learn why winter can intensify fatigue, anxiety, seasonal depression, and emotional withdrawal, and why the goal on low-energy days isn’t productivity. It’s nervous system regulation. This episode offers six gentle, supportive strategies that work without motivation, discipline, or forcing yourself to feel better.

We cover:

• Why energy drops in winter and why it’s not a personal failure

• How anxiety, stress, and guilt drain capacity

• How to lower the bar without giving up on yourself

• Micro-actions that actually help when energy is limited

• Letting rest be active instead of something you have to earn

• How to borrow regulation when self-regulation feels impossible

This is not a pep talk. It’s a permission-giving, trauma-informed episode for days when care needs to be simple.

If all you do is listen, that’s enough.

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Take the free, Values in Action Survey and discover your Signature Character Strengths: 24 Character Strengths List | VIA Institute

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Keywords:

• coping strategies for low energy days

• anxiety and low energy in winter

• seasonal depression and fatigue

• mental health support during winter

• coping with loneliness and isolation

• stress and emotional exhaustion

• guilt and burnout coping strategies

• low capacity days mental health

The character strengths you were born with can become a quiet, powerful pathway through depression, anxiety symptoms, seasonal depression, stress, and the loneliness and isolation that often comes with them.

In this introductory episode of the Not Broken. Equipped series, we explore the VIA (Values in Action) Character Strengths Survey. What it is, where it came from, and the science behind it. Developed through decades of research, the VIA framework identifies 24 universal character strengths found across cultures and life stages. These strengths aren’t traits you have to earn or fix. They’re capacities that exist even when life feels heavy.

We also talk honestly about the shadow side of strengths. How perseverance can turn into burnout, kindness into self-erasure, or curiosity into restlessness when the nervous system is overwhelmed. Strengths are meant to support you, not push you.

Throughout this series, each episode focuses on one character strength. How it shows up in everyday life, how it can help with depression, anxiety symptoms, isolation, loneliness, guilt, and stress.

This isn’t about becoming someone new. It’s about using what’s already there.

Sign up a 60 minute 1:1 coaching session: https://calendly.com/practicalsolutionsforptsd

Take the free, Values in Action Survey and discover your Signature Character Strengths: 24 Character Strengths List | VIA Institute

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Join our Facebook community: Overcome Depression & Anxiety - Use Positive Psychology to Combat PTSD | Facebook

Get in touch! info@practicalsolutionsforptsd.com

Keywords:

• depression support

• anxiety symptoms

• anxiety coping tools

• living with depression

• mental health podcast

• emotional regulation

• stress relief

January is often framed as the time to get serious about goals. But for many people living with anxiety symptoms, seasonal depression, PTSD, or chronic stress, winter brings low energy, brain fog, isolation, loneliness, and guilt instead of motivation.

In this episode, we take a trauma-informed look at goal-setting through the lens of seasonal biology. You’ll learn why winter can elevate stress hormones, reduce cognitive flexibility, and make planning feel unsafe, and why late spring and early summer are often more supportive for long-term goals.

Rather than pushing through, this conversation offers a gentler framework for winter: stabilize, rest, and protect your nervous system so you’re resourced enough to move forward when the season shifts.

Sign up a 60 minute 1:1 coaching session: https://calendly.com/practicalsolutionsforptsd

Become an Insider by signing up for the weekly newsletter: https://practicalsolutionsforptsdinsider.grwebsite.com/

Join our Facebook community: Overcome Depression & Anxiety - Use Positive Psychology to Combat PTSD | Facebook

Get in touch! info@practicalsolutionsforptsd.com

Keywords:

• anxiety symptoms

• seasonal depression

• winter depression

• mental health podcast

• trauma-informed healing

• PTSD and anxiety

• nervous system regulation

• burnout recovery

• goal setting anxiety

• New Year pressure

• winter motivation

• mental health in winter

• isolation and loneliness

• guilt and self-criticism

• emotional resilience