How to cope when January's cold, dark days get you down

Source: Dallas Morning News

This is an excerpt from the article:

Carol Anne Gordon, Organ-donor coordinator

DAVID WOO/DMN

Carol Anne Gordon meets people on the worst day of their lives – the day their loved ones die. She talks to them about the importance of organ donation, about how a life lost can multiply into many saved.

"We are asking them to take a leap of faith that something good can happen and save others, to think of others," says Gordon, 54, of Plano, a family services coordinator who works for Southwest Transplant Alliance.

She has done this for five years. She'd worked in the corporate world, but after an allergic reaction to an antibiotic almost killed her, she rethought her priorities. "I wanted to make a difference and to feel good about what I was giving back."

Her job is tough and inherently bittersweet. Talk to her, though, and you come away thinking of possibilities, believing in hope.

"When I first came here, one of my colleagues told me, 'Just because a miracle doesn't come to you doesn't mean a miracle can't come through you.' Just because things don't work out the way we want them to doesn't mean they're not going to be OK."

Her advice:

Express gratitude. Every night before she goes to bed, Gordon writes down three things she's grateful for that day. Her mother, a psychologist, suggested the practice; that way, the last thing on your mind before you go to sleep is gratitude.

"It's so easy to type into a computer," she says. "But with this, I force myself to write with a pen, especially if it's something going around and around in your head. Your thoughts are anchored on that paper."

Keep a prayer journal. Inside the front cover of a pretty journal, Gordon writes a prayer; inside the back, "Amen."

"Every time you open and close it to add another name, you're saying that prayer," she says. "When what you have prayed for comes to pass, you take out a marker and cross out what's been answered. I keep it right by the computer. When someone says, 'Pray for such and such,' I write it that minute. I just put a name. That's all I need; God knows who they are."

Put realistic expectations on yourself. See what depresses you and avoid it, especially in winter months.

Follow your bliss. "If there's something you've loved all your life, go for it," Gordon says. "It's not all for nought. It's making you feel better."