Seasonal Affective Disorder
The leaves are falling the temperature is falling as well. We have less day light now and it won’t be long until the gray of winter settles in to our Southern Ohio region. This can mean different things for different people. For some of us, autumn is the best season of the year. The crisp air, the apples and mums and most importantly, Pumpkin Spice everything. But for others fall is more like a bearer of bad news. As the leaves fall and cover the grass, we might notice our spirits falling as well.
For people who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) fall can come with a sense of dread. Dreading the seemingly endless days without so much as a peek of the sun. Dread of the dark. Many of us will go to work in the dark and then return home in the dark. Dread of being in a perpetual state of cold. Events that we look forward to being cancelled by bad weather and generally just being stuck inside.
Let’s do something different this year. Let’s manage the SAD in a new way. Let’s plan ahead. Most of us will do ok until after the New Year celebrations have ended. We have enough to keep us busy until then. The pandemic has had its own effect on that with people experiencing SAD symptoms in October of last year rather than the typical January. That may not be the case as much this year as we may feel freer to celebrate with our families due to vaccine. But either way, it hits when it hits and having a plan is going to be crucial to managing the sadness and depression that can come with this time of year.
Here is a list of things you can do this year to make it better.
1. Make sure to get outside, bundle up and wear something reflective, but get outside for a walk; take the dog for a walk, or stroll through your yard, planning for spring.
2. Take time to do the things you enjoy inside; a bubble bath, a fire in the fireplace, hot chocolate, start a puzzle, play games with your family.
3. Create a list of indoor projects you could get done this winter. Now remember you probably with not feel motivated to do them, that’s ok, do them anyway. Projects like cleaning out a closet, rearranging a room, tackling the junk drawer in the kitchen, getting a bag of things you don’t need any more and taking them to Goodwill.
4. Learn a new hobby. Head out to Hobby Lobby or JoAnne’s and find something new to try and then make that your winter project. Search Pinterest for an idea.
5. And finally, enjoy the friends and family you have close, even when you would rather stay isolated, remember you may not want to do it, do it anyway.
Make a plan and do something different this year. This is not a complete list and in reading it you may have thought of a few other things, that’s great, add them to your list. The important thing is to recognize that you are feeling down, validate the feeling for yourself with something like “It makes sense that I would be feeling bad, it has been a long winter and I am ready to be outside again.” Validate the feeling and remind yourself that you have made it through many winters, and you will make it through this one too. Nothing has changed. And don’t forget Spring is coming.