Black Girl Vitamins

“hey babes it's your girl Jamie here and today we are going to be talking about my tips to beat seasonal depression so let's get into them doesn't matter if the snow is falling or the windows in the rain is [Music] pouring all right y' so straight up you know I live in Alaska which lowkey I feel like is got to be the like depression capital of America it is so miserable when it is this dark outside we are at the point where we're only seeing maybe 4 hours of daylight we are getting into like the deepest stretches of winter and if you guys notice uh I haven't really been doing vlogmas this past week and that is because the seasonal Depression hit okay the seasonal Sadies hit and this is the first time I feel like I got over it really quickly and I don't say got over it lightly because I do suffer from Seasonal effective disorder so literally I do get depressed based off of the weather and this is the first year in Alaska this is my third year here this is my first winter where I wasn't like dealing with depression the entire winter like this is the first time that I really wasn't tripping and then I just had this one week where I was like oh yeah like seasonal sades are here buddy and then moved on from them and I think these tips are why I was able to move on from it so quickly and just like bounce back into being happier feeling grateful and all those things so I want to share these tips with you guys number one was getting my vitamin D supplement in and on top of that being on top of all of my supplements now lucky for me I partnered with black girl vitamins a while ago and I loved their vitamins but I didn't realize how life-changing their vitam would be their vitamin D supplement has 250% of the vitamin D you need and I don't know about you guys but I never really connected the fact that most Vitamin D supplements only have like 100% or you know like maybe they'll have 150% like I don't think I have seen vitamin D that has 250% of your needs and as a woman of color like anybody with melanated skin honey we are typically prone to being vitamin D deficient because of the melanin in our skin right we are made to be out in the sunshine we are made to Glow but that also means that we have that built-in protection from the Sun so we're not getting as much vitamin D as those who have less melanin than us so we're already prone to vitamin D deficiency but I didn't realize how much it can affect your mood until I started taking the black R vitamins D3 so the vitamin D3 that 250% I swear that is the only real change that I made in my like winter routine you could say like yes I work out yes I'm more in touch with my PCOS all these things you can make all these excuses but I'm genuinely going to say I think the vitamin D3 made the biggest difference because I started it in the beginning of like fall so when it started getting dark is when I started that vitamin D supplement that's when I did the um PR video with them they just sent it over to me and it was an affiliate link it wasn't sponsored it's still not sponsored but black girl vitamins has been so generous to send me over two things to give away to to you guys so they sent me over their vitamin D3 supplements and their collagen these are my two favorite supplements from them so they sent them over to me to give away to you guys so make sure you stay until the end of the video to find out how to join this giveaway but I mainly am excited to be giving them away because I feel like they are the ones that really changed things for me when it came to my seasonal depression and I genuinely also noticed just like an overall Improvement in my health with being on top of all my vitamins big Heavy Hitters that I feel like have helped me with my seasonal depression are definitely the vitamin D3 Omega-3s and magnesium those are the three that I feel like I used to slack on a lot and now that I'm not slacking on them I have noticed a big difference for me I also love their collagen I've seen that my hair my skin my nails everything is just looking better and I've been on their collagen for a couple months now so it's not like this is like a new thing I been trying it for a bit I love blackout vitamins I have a coupon code down below so if you want to be shopping it'll be linked below but also stay until the end of the video to learn how to join the giveaway so you can get those guys for free sent to you so you can try them out without paying all right guys my next tip is actually cutting back on alcohol so I have two non-alcoholic drinks here I'm going to tell you guys why cuz you guys know I'm not shy to a cocktail honey you know I love me a good glass of wine little cocktail little something something okay here's the thing alcohol is a depressant if you're already depressed why would you add a depressant to that does that make sense and I understand it's the holidays and we are going to all these parties and we're hanging out with friends and we're we're having these big highs of enjoying being around the people we love you know I feel like at the holiday time people are friendlier people are happier like girl even Alaska cuz most people are just like honey help your help thy neighbor they don't they didn't get that memo and maybe because Californians are extra extra nice I don't know girl but I just okay they don't be having all that love and spirit but during the holidays even they're a bit nicer you know they're a bit nicer to people okay so you notice that people are happier it's nicer it's almost this like bubble of being with the people you love and smiling and happy and it's Christmas and all I want for Christmas and right it's that Vibe but then you still have to go to work you still have to deal with like family issues around the holidays because you're around a lot of family it also brings a lot of stress if you have like dysfunctional family relationships or maybe you don't want to be single this Christmas but you're single and you're around all these couples and your friends are getting engaged and it's it's a lot you know people are announcing pregnancies and you want to be pregnant and all of these things the holidays can bring a lot of good and a lot of bad with that there's also a lot of drinking and like party culture around the holidays which I have no problem with I love to celebrate you know I do I love a good glass of wine I love a cocktail it's fun it's a Vibe but I've also noticed that with alcohol being a depressant there is no reason to add that on top of you already feeling depressed so to me it's like being on fire and then pouring gasoline on yourself like sis what is you doing what is you doing so to me personally if I'm already feeling depressed I'm already feeling that dip I'm not going to engage in drinking and instead I have found different mocktail recipes that I can bring to parties and they give the same Vibe of having a cocktail having a drink with everyone without you having to drink if that makes sense like you don't have to stand out and be the one person that's like I'm just drinking a soda like you don't have to be that person either because I don't like I like the look of a cocktail too like I like the vibe it's it's just an energy it's very sexy I feel like it's very like girly cute hottie Vibes I love everything about it so I have learned to make mocktails that give me that same energy so I'm going to share some of my favorites with you guys number one this has been a sleeper hit we actually picked this up when my parents were here because my dad doesn't drink so we were coming up with like fun little mocktails to make while they were here and my dad found this seed lip non-alcoholic spirit this is the notas de agave so this is a prickly pear lime and Agave flavored beverage honestly this just gives like a non-alcoholic tequila and I love it but it doesn't have the same like burn of tequila but I mean I'm a tequila drinker so I love this one it really does give like tequila cocktail Vibes me and my husband actually literally just had mocktails with this last night I made them fores so our mocktail recipe is a shot of this each so it'll be like two shots of this and then we will do the glass AA Frescas now I get this on Amazon this is my absolute favorite it's so delicious this is limeade cucumber they are low calorie sugarfree so delicious and I will take one of these straws they also come with like the big picture versions and stuff so you can order it however you want to order it but I personally love the limeade cucumber the most so I will take this put it in a sparkling water we'll either do like a lime lacroy a lime bubbly something lime though to bring out that limey flavor in this one and then I'll put a magnesium in there so we have magnesium powder that's like raspberry lemon flavored but it really just gives like a lemony heartness I guess and I'll put a two scoops in there for us perfect it's a calming relaxing cocktail but you're still having a cocktail you're still getting that relaxing effect that you would get from alcohol without actually having the alcohol it tastes delicious you get that little burn in there like you had a cocktail as well because this does have a little bit of a bite to it even though it's non-alcoholic and I love it it just gives that cocktail Vibe without having a cocktail another favorite I am an apparal Spritz girl appall sprits me down okay I love an ey sprits I love eyebrow Sprites that is my drink honey that is my drink but obviously if I am in a little bit of a seasonal depressive dip then I'm not going to be having alcohol so I picked up what is it Liars Italian Spritz this is the non-alcoholic spirits and basically this is appol this is appol without the alcohol and I should mention that one fluon serving of this is 25 calories and a two fluon serving of this is zero calories so there's no calories in this one too so it's a real low calorie cocktail with this one with this guy I will do a shot of this I will do kombucha instead of prco and then I will do like a bubbly water of some kind usually I try to find like a peach flavor my favorite is the G Forest white peach or Ley those ones are so delicious so I will we use those with a little kombucha and this guy and it totally gives appol Spritz Vibes without having an appal Spritz it's also like good for your tummy cuz kombucha is good for your tummy and it just gives like that little cocktail Vibe you know what I'm saying um the other brand of alcohol-free beverages that I'm obsessed with like I genuinely want to be on their PR list so badly it hurts my soul is free AF I have drinken drinken what English okay well how do you say it okay I have well good okay anyway y'all get what I'm saying okay I love the free AF ones I have been drinking them for years now um because I figured this out in Alaska like to basically our first winter here that alcohol and this depressive winter were not a good mix so I started drinking them then and free AF their cocktails are so good they have a rosé one that literally tastes like a watermelon dollar raner it's so oh my God it's so good and their appol Spritz one is hands down my favorite um I love their kubali lib I believe and that's Diet Coke and lime cocktail like with vodka basically is the vibe of that one they are so delicious guys if you haven't tried free AF you need to pick them up I'm so serious they're so good it's really like it tastes like you got a cocktail at a bar but there's no alcohol in it and in the free AF drinks they have like a they call it like their magic ingredient and basically it gives the vibe of like you had a drink but you're not there's no alcohol in it so it's like um it's an adap adaptogen adaptogen however you say it I have to do more research but I love them I've been drinking them for years I just don't know how to say it adaptogen adapin whatever the mushrooms okay you know how everybody does the mushroom stuff and they're like oh it's good for you like lions M and all this stuff basically theirs has some like an adaptogen in it that gives you that like bubbly Vibe of like ooh had a cocktail but like there's no alcohol and I love those they are very expensive I'm not going to lie to you they are like $35 for a pack and it's like a 12pack I feel like they're really expensive but they're not and they're hard to get for me like I have to order them from Amazon it can take almost 2 weeks to get here like it is a lot to get them but that should tell you how much I like that product if I'm willing to go through all of that to get it here in Alaska for just a 12 pack like I love them when we go home in California or like when we get to Vegas for Christmas I'm definitely going to be picking up packs because I love it I actually just think they taste good I like the vibe they give you like it gives you that like a had a cocktail Vibe without you having to have had a cocktail so that that means you don't wake up with any Sunday scaries or anything if you're someone that gets like the Sunday scaries or that dip after you've had alcohol the next day I just love them for that so if you are someone who is looking for some non-alcoholic options here are my favorites I actually think I'm going to put out a vlog that has like all of my mocktail recipes in it in one video I'm like debating if I should do that for you guys right before holiday parties so let me know in the comments down below if that is something you would be interested in I usually will make the cocktail mix like I am the one who usually brings the drinks to parties I'm like the cocktail Queen so what I like to do is make a big mix of like the cocktail whatever cocktail I'm making I make AA francas like all these different things I'll just bring a big old picture and then a bottle of alcohol that way it is up to you if you want to add alcohol or not so sometimes I will bring my non-alcoholic one and I will put shots of my non-alcoholic one in my big drink mix while other people are putting shots of tequila or vodka or whatever they want to pick that way nobody feels like they're being put on blast if they want to drink or don't want to drink right that's how I feel at least like I don't think it needs to be this big thing if you want to drink or don't drink but I do feel like sometimes it can feel that way when everybody else is like holding a beer or holding like alcohol and then you're just like here's my Sprite you know nothing wrong with it but like it it you can feel a little disjointed from the vibe so there's like a lot of non-alcoholic options out there I highly recommend you guys checking them out and you know just seeing if it works for you all right y'all my next tip is actually going to be getting into hobbies and getting off your phone now I have said this before and I'm going to stick to it comparison is the thief of Happiness we spend so much time on social media comparing ourselves to others and being like oh I wish I had this I wish I had that I want this I want that la la la be quiet comparison is the thief of Happiness if we spend all day comparing ourselves to what other people have what other people want shopping for what they have putting ourselves into debt you know afterpay all these things honey afterpay all that stuff no we don't need to be doing that okay what we need to do is appreciate what we already have so what I started doing was getting into Hobbies you guys know I've talked about like painting sets in my vlogmas videos and I also I think I've talked about sewing possibly in a vlogmas video I'm not really sure but I've gotten back into sewing and I just really want to get my hobby back I guess I've gotten into coloring I've like just Hands-On hobbies that you can't be on your phone and do I'll play music in the background I'll play Somebody's YouTube video who's just like talking like a podcasty kind of thing whatever I'll play that in the background and I will sew or I'll paint I'll color I'll even read okay anything I've become a Kindle girlly you know what I mean anything but beyond my phone scrolling and I think that helps your mental health so much we don't realize it but when our mental health starts going down we really start indulging in habits that are not going to benefit us when I hit my little seasonal depression the last thing I ever want to do is work out the last thing I want to do is turn off Tik Tok turn off YouTube right like I want to be there in my misery scrolling looking at things like distracting myself from the fact that I'm miserable but it's not really distracting myself it's just making myself more miserable because I'm looking at what other people have and I'm saying like why don't I have this why can't I do that why don't I look like this BL it's not smart it's it's just not and uh you know we are creatures of habit right we get stuck in these routines but truly sitting there scrolling on your phone is not going to help you get out of your seasonal depression it's literally not so after you finish this video girl to be honest I say log off and go do an activity okay to be real go cook something go bake something I don't know but get off your phone is what I'm saying turn off TV be in the real world because we can get trapped in this and it really isn't good for us so what I like to do is I've really gotten into sewing I've really gotten into painting and coloring baking cooking learning new recipes like learning how to make gluten-free things I just made gluten-free Bagels this week and I made like a whole gluten-free pizza and gluten-free Dairy Pizza like I don't know just doing things that are with your hands that keep you off of your devices I really have been enjoying it and I would highly recommend everyone start diving into a hobby that has nothing to do with the internet and I know that sounds so privileged to say because not everybody has a sewing machine not everybody has a kitchen to cook in I understand so I would say find a hobby that you can do that is within your realm of something you can do maybe you really like to read start reading more instead of being on you know Tik Tok and Instagram however you can do it I highly recommend you try it even if it's just sitting outside instead of scrolling on your phone any little bit will help a bunch all right guys my next tip is practice gratitude daily and on top of that I'm also going to say one that might be a little bit controversial but it brings me a lot of peace and to be honest I I think there's a reason that there is that recommendation of it with mental health in general when it comes to the professional side cuz you guys know I have degrees on the psychological side of you know mental health I don't talk about it that much on my channel because it's not a skill that I use every day on this channel but this video in particular there's a little bit of an overlap so number one practicing gratitude I use a f- minute Journal I love this thing uh there's no other way around it this is a great starter Journal I will say I suck at doing the evening portion I forget Sumi I don't know um but I love the five minute Journal I really do um I I just I think it's amazing it reminds you to be grateful every day if you guys haven't ever done a five-minute Journal it basically gives you like a quote about gratitude um okay I've done this for ye I've had multiples of these like I've done these for years so basically it gives you a quote from someone it has you write three things you're grateful for and then it has what would make today great so you write three things that would make your day great and then you write your own daily affirmation in the evening you're supposed to write three highlights of the day and one sentence on what you learned today that's literally it that's why it's called the five- minute journal and that is why this one Journal is so famous and so popular because it truly is a great way to just get in touch with yourself every single day and get in touch with gratitude every single day the other thing now I am Christian so I I do the she reads Truth Bible I love my Bible I read literally just one section of my Bible every single day and it brings me so much peace I recommend getting in touch with the higher power now that doesn't mean it has to be Christianity because I would say that I'm not um a textbook Christian by any means my beliefs don't exactly align with the mainstream Christianity belief because I believe that everyone is created because God loves all of us and it doesn't matter who you love and it doesn't matter you know a lot of things okay it doesn't matter what you look like doesn't matter who you love God loves you that's the belief that I have um so just putting that out there okay I I'm an ally okay so for me personally my Christianity I read the Bible with a grain of salt because some things in the Bible I feel like people forget the overarching message is just that God loves all of us and that he's there for all of us and that's the Viewpoint that I read my Bible with so some parts of the Bible are saying things that maybe aren't in line exactly with my beliefs but I understand that because you know the way that I learned the Bible I was raised Christian the way that I learned the Bible is the overarching thing is just like we grow and adapt and change our minds grow and adapt and change we're created in His image so you know he had to grow and adapt and change as well get me so yeah I would say being in touch with a higher power for me personally when it comes to Christianity I really really love reading my Bible every day it brings me peace it puts me in touch with the higher power and it reminds me that I'm not alone and that is the main thing when you are feeling depressed you're going to feel like you're alone like you have nobody even if you're in a room of people who love and adore you and are screaming your name you could still feel alone when it comes to depression so I personally think practicing gratitude noting the things I'm grateful for and then getting in touch with the higher power and just reminding myself I'm not alone there's always someone walking beside me even if I can't see them he's always there guiding me and helping me along the way like that belief is so powerful in keeping yourself out of these depressive dips and I think even if you believe in a higher power you call the higher power something else or you know you believe shoot girl even if you think it's an alien okay whatever you believe believing that there's always somebody in your corner is such a strong belief and it will help you with your mental health and there is a reason why you see it recommended in a lot of these Mental Health Services and we're just going to leave it at that okay all I'm saying is both of those things will help you a lot with your seasonal depression and in the comments y'all best keep it respectful because you will get blocked if you're saying anything crazy down there all right y'all the next one can't leave it out daily movement du I talk about this in like every video because it's like life changing so my daily movement has really been coming from my treadmill disc straight up because I have not been in the mood to work out I have not been in the mode honey when your seasal depression hits the last thing you want to do is get up and move at all but the way that my desk is set up is there's no chair so I don't really got the choice to sit down no more uh I literally took my office chair out of the room so I made it so that if I want to sit I literally have to go retrieve a chair and if I want my comfy office chair I actually have to go all the way upstairs take the office chair down the whole flight of stairs and bring it into this office and move the treadmill and adjust the desk down to a sitting position all of that to sit down baby I ain't sitting down I'mma keep walking on that treadmill yes I am um because one thing about me lazy being lazy honey the path of least resistance walking on the treadmill is the easier way than doing all of that to sit in a comfy chair right I could get one of my kitchen chairs but they're not meant for you to be sitting in for hours typing on a computer okay so yeah the that's what I did to make sure that I get in Daily movement if I'm working on the computer I'm walking on that treadmill I like to do an hour minimum walking before I allow myself to you know stop walking on the treadmill and maybe I'll just be standing maybe I will get a kitchen chair and sit for like an hour because they're not that like they're not designed to be super comfy to sit there for hours and hours and hours that's that's why I like using them at my desk so it makes me want to get up and get back on the treadmill but that daily movement has been lifechanging cuz you're getting that little boost of endorphins like all day long without having to do like a really hard sweaty workout you're just walking on a treadmill and on top of that I'm getting work done so I'm editing a video for you guys right after this I'm going to make my morning smoothie and get on the treadmill and edit this video um you know I'm making the thumbnails I'm responding to emails I'm working with companies all of these things are being done while I'm moving my body and I love it and I understand that the treadmill desk and the under desk treadmill is such a privilege so I would highly recommend with Christmas coming up that's something you ask for if you really want that because even just being at home like I know some of us don't work from home totally understand that so maybe you could ask for like a Mini Stepper so that you're on the Mini Stepper while you watch TV in the evening or you could ask for a walking pad and be on that in the evenings while you're watching TV a walking pads are I believe mine was only 100 it was on sale for Black Friday and it was like only 100 cuz I actually had one before when I worked a job from home and I returned it when I stopped working that job because I was like well what do I need a tread build Des for and within a week of not having it I regretted returning it and I was like damn I should have kept that you know and then I couldn't it wasn't in stock so it's like I could order it back and then we set up our outdoor gym and I was just doing the outdoor workouts but I always in the back of my mind was like dang I really should get that underd treadmill back and I'm so happy I got it back cuz man it really does make a difference if you work from home and you have the ability to do so highly recommend a standing desk with the treadmill like oh my God it's it's a life changer it's a game changer also you could ask for um a cycling bike if you want to be someone who Cycles I've SE I've even seen cycling desks where it's like a cycling bike with a desk on top which is kind of cool um so yeah there's plenty of different ways to get in your daily movement I bought a p a Pilates bar kit from Amazon and I do like Pilates bar workouts and stuff there's so many different ways to get in your daily movement but get in Daily movement you could do a grow with Joe video I mean if you're watching my video right now on YouTube then you have access to miss grow with Joe and y'all know I'm a big fan of her so Fitness Marshall Love Fitness Marshall you could do a Fitness Marshall workout there are so many different ways to get yourself in shape um and to just get your daily movement in and feel good in your body get that endorphin boost so I highly recommend getting your daily movement however you get it my next tip is going to be reorganizing your space and this kind of ties into the final tip which is deep cleaning so I guess we can like put them in a little bubble together so reorganizing your space I notice that when I'm like in a depressive State everything is B to me like everything looks the same everything's giving like blah blah blah okay everything's gray and just blah so what I like to do is reorganize my space y'all remember okay maybe this is just Me Maybe This is the millennial and me all right the I'm 30 so I'm like a end of the line Millennial like I'm at the edges of millennial cut off but okay do y'all remember when you would reorganize your whole room and then you would call your mom in there and be like look and you would have moved your bed and your dresser and change your little posters around at like 2:00 in the morning and then you wake your mom up on Saturday morning and you're like look at my room it's like a whole new place do you remember doing that because I distinctly remember doing that I distinctly remember at 2 a”

“changing my whole room around especially in the summer y'all remember the summer nights you would want to just reorganize your whole room for some reason I don't know y'all but we used to be doing that and so I want you to bring that energy back now so it'll feel like you're in a new space it'll open your eyes to the beautiful things you already own and it will help you see the world in a different lighting right it gives you that dopamine hit of like wow everything's new I'm telling you it really works guys I'm about to like reorganize both my offices okay cuz I I I I want to I want to like reorganize my little sewing space and you know I want to do like an office makeover like I don't know I just want to so that's what I'm going to be doing and the final tip is deep cleaning cleaning your space when you are in a depressive slump it is so easy to not clean to not take care of yourself to not shower to not bathe all these things cleaning is so meditative it is such a meditative calming task and on top of that it links into our other tip of staying off of our phones and saying off social media so what I like to do is put on some headphones listen to a podcast and just clean empty your brain and clean listen to the podcast do the robotic movements of cleaning and block everything else out and it will give your mind a bit of a reprieve from this depressive State you're in and I understand we are all in different states of depressive symptoms so some people you can't get up even if you are like almost bedbound from your depression try to like Smooth your blankets fluff your pillows right like even that little bit of like cleaning and making it look nicer for you change the lights in the room maybe right like instead of having the lights off all day turn the lights on all day these little things will make a big difference open the curtains even if it's like me and it's pitch black outside dude open the curtains cuz it'll feel like you've opened up your space in some kind of way these are just little things you can do that will make a humongous difference so guys we have reached the end of the video so now I can tell you how to enter my giveaway with black girl vitamins so number one you need to subscribe to this channel hi girl join the fam click that subscribe button number two you're going to follow me on Instagram I will have a link down below it's @ hey Jon I'm over there and I'm going to be over there a lot more in the New Year hence why you guys are going to have to go follow me on Instagram so you can see what's going on over there number three you're going to comment down below your Instagram handle and one thing you do to cure your winter Blues with a blue heart emoji that way I know you are a contestant for our giveaway away all right this is going to go until December 31st and I will randomly choose a winner on January 1st I will be contacting you from my Instagram account so you should be following me therefore you'll know it's me that is messaging you and you can make sure it's not some sketchy like fake profile um so you will be messaged by me and I will ask for shipping information so I can ship it out to you and that will be our giveaway so guys make sure you joining the giveaway and of course if you haven't joined our fam please join our fam we are over here twice a week every week and we just kick it we love to chitchat over here so thank you guys so much for watching I'm praying for all of you that are dealing with seasonal depression cuz it is no joke honey but just remember you're not alone we're all in this one together and I love you guys very much and I'll see you in the next one bye snow is falling or the windows in the rain is pouring it will always be Christmas in my heart but this year I want to hang out with my friends and family”