It’s that time of the year. Anyone who has heard the words seasonal depression has probably considered if they themselves could have experienced it at some point. Seasonal depression, or Seasonal Affective Disorder is also known as SAD lol. This is a medical acronym not mine.
The top signs are fatigue, depression, hopelessness, and social withdrawal. This occurs in our neck of the woods more regularly than in parts of the country that have more regular year round sun. If you understand a few things about seasonal affective disorder you might understand yourself a little bit better.. so I decided to do a quick blog on it..
You’re not alone..
Over 10 million people get the ole “winter blues.” It’s not something that needs to hinder you if you recognize that it’s just a part of living on this part of the planet. You don’t need to let it define you. If you understand what it is that could be overtaking your good mood, or preventing you from falling asleep, or making you want to party.. you might take a different step on your path that day. Most importantly, understand that seasonal affective disorder is common and basically normal.
Women are more likely..
Females are often chastised for their hormonal swings, while it can even be argued men have their own swings. One thing that’s interesting to note is that seasonal affective disorder affects women at a 4x higher rate than men. Regardless of your gender, it’s important to understand that it can affect anyone. Talking to people about it, and sharing your internals with trusted and/or unbiased, educated sources who can help you better understand your own mind.
Like You Were 18 Again..
Typically, SAD starts occurring around age 18-30. The prime of your life. Think back in your life and think about how you may or may not started feeling more depressed around certain times of the year. If you live in Western New York, you probably have seen this hopelessness each fall. It can be assumed that there is some correlation between SAD and alcoholism/addiction. We will save that for next time. When you consider age, those “high risk” behaviors tend to start around that same era of life.
Hopeless Worthless & Guilty
Same signs as an alcoholic or addict, once again. These feelings could turn into a chicken or the egg for an 18-30 year old. Regardless of how old you are, it’s never too late to acknowledge that maybe just maybe, these thoughts are more normal than you think. See the signs
Signs and symptoms of SAD may include:
- Feeling depressed most of the day, nearly every day
- Losing interest in activities you once enjoyed
- Having low energy
- Having problems with sleeping
- Experiencing changes in your appetite or weight
- Feeling sluggish or agitated
- Having difficulty concentrating
- Feeling hopeless, worthless or guilty
- Having frequent thoughts of death or suicide
Fall and winter SAD
Symptoms specific to winter-onset SAD, sometimes called winter depression, may include:
- Oversleeping
- Appetite changes, especially a craving for foods high in carbohydrates
- Weight gain
- Tiredness or low energy
The feeling of thinking you’re hopeless, thinking your worthless, thinking your guilty of something, anything that makes you feel that pit of despair, that’s actually normal life. If you take away the stigma and start seeing everyone else’s colors for who they also are, you may start helping someone out of their own deep pit. You’re not the only one feeling this way. I am right now.. that’s why I’m writing this blog haha.
Help Others
In my opinion the best type of suffering, if that is possible, is shared comedic suffering. If I can be someones bright spot for a few seconds of their day, maybe it might shed a peak of light to get them through their cavernous adventure. My challenge to you by writing this quick blog is to see that sometimes the only thing you need to do to help yourself is just help one person. Even if that one person isn’t yourself. Help someone else out of their pit today.
Love can be something that is shared with strangers. It doesn’t need to be this social media / political arrangement that you only give to your partner. You can share love by smiling at someone on the bus, or holding a door. The lord our God lives in those moments.
I can still feel the love
Lyrics from a Kanye song, but also noteworthy personal reflection. Since I have truly committed to restraining from alcohol, I have personally noted internal reflections of darkness diminish and self worth increase as well as self confidence. Admittedly I am probably pretty similar on the outside, but internally my perception of the world FEELS better, and that is a great feeling. If anyone feels like they might be seasonally depressed or want to talk feel free to let me know I’m always down to talk!
Oh yeah… plus it’s the wiccan new year October 31…the death of the Pagan year. Traditionally this would mean a new life following the 31st. So maybe you’re just afraid of the underworld’s annual opening we’ll talk about that later on the TRYIN TIMES..
