It is very strange but the pre-Easter time of the year is my downer time. I heard of seasonal affective disorder being a wintertime condition, but for me it happens in late winter and very early spring. Right now I am again going through a blue time. I used to self medicate with alcohol but I gave that up because it just made things worse. I've started now to plan trips for this time of year to pick me up. I leave Friday for New Orleans and a cruise. If this helps to pick me up I'll try it again next year, but I am confused as to why this is a recurring condition in my life. I can almost post this each year on my calendar. My SSRI doesn't help!

I always seem to get that in January and February. After Christmas and New Years is over. Life just feels boring and poi again afterwords. March is when I start feeling happier again. That spring is finally coming. Although it's pretty much been here for the past two months already in Utah.

I get that a bit, too. To compound it, it's been gloomy and rainy, and my Mom is probably entering a cancer death spiral right now. Hard to put on a happy face.

rationalist01 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I get that a bit, too. To compound it, it's been
> gloomy and rainy, and my Mom is probably entering
> a cancer death spiral right now. Hard to put on a
> happy face.


Oh my. That's a very difficult and stressful time. It's so hard to lose a parent or spouse. I've lost all of "parental units" and then my husband. It's a big adjustment.

I was born and raised in Portland, OR and was well acquainted with lots of snow and mist and rain and some heat but not too high very often. I lived in a family that mostly upbeat - lived through the Great Depression and maintained a sense of humor!

Then moved to UT and got the extreme heat and extreme cold.
Now I live in CA where it is hot and cold in the same week! :-)

Usually it's a very mild climate in Santa Barbara County and I prefer living here. Been here since 1970. At my age (thermostat is completely useless!) I don't do well in high heat over 80F (go into heat exhaustion easily - three times I can recall), or freezing temps.

I don't recall getting "the blues" much in my life and can't recall being really depressed, except for odd symptoms from a double concussion, but some days lend themselves to more relaxation and down time.

I enjoy all of the seasons: spring budding plants and leaves growing back on trees, and fall colors are probably my favorite. I like to look at the snow but don't want to be out in it anymore! Been there done that enough times!!

There was a thread on reverse SAD which happens in July and August a few weeks ago. I have reverse SAD. I would assume there are any time of year SAD reactions.

If you hate hot weather (as I do), then it reminds you that the sweat season is coming fast.
I like the weather right now, but I know it is going to get horribly hot! Weather over 85 degrees make me sick, literally.
I like gloomy and rainy... forest fire season scares me.

I can understand feeling low this time of year if you're in a northern clime, where it's still cold, and it seems like spring will never arrive. I wouldn't want to live in a place where it still snowed or sleeted after about mid-March. If you're going to New Orleans this Friday, it will probably be 80 degrees or warmer down there by then.

I love the spring for two big reasons: first, I have a business that's tourist-based. My sales are pretty much dead from about mid-January to mid-March. When the weather warms up, the tourists come back, and my business picks way up.

Second, we have a beautiful spring season in my area. Next month, the dogwoods, redbuds, and daffodils will bloom, and shortly after that, the rhododendrons, azaleas, and mountain laurel come out. So the coming of spring is beautiful for me, plus it means that I made it through another winter alive. :-)

This thread's actually timely, because, man, it's like 70 degrees outside and I played tennis today and I should be doing great. But I haven't cried as much as I have today since my wife separated from me over a year ago.

I just spent the weekend with my oldest boy (5 yrs old). Seeing him break down and get so sad when he had to leave combined with waxing nostalgic for how happy I felt when I was first married (dunno what brought on that impulse) has left me a wreck this entire evening. Like one of those evenings where life seems hopeless.

Luckily I called this girl I've been trying to date for a while now, she answered and we had a good 45 minute chat and laughed a lot. Boy I needed that.

They are lowest at this time of year, due to going without much good sunlight for several months. Low levels can trigger depression, among other ailments.

Does it usually start because of Daylight savings time? Could it simply be that you're body isn't used to getting up when it's still dark out?

I look forward to spring, like most people do, but my "reverse SAD" seems to be more of a physical response. I don't like heat, either, and it drains my energy. The days seem too long. There's too much noise, and it continues on until the sun goes down, later and later. Neighbors are always remodeling their houses, and they hammer and saw in the early morning and the evening, when it is cool. People run their mowers, leaf blowers, and chain saws. Bored teen-agers rev their motors, and out-of-school kids shout in the streets. Some of us depend on the quiet, dark, cool evening hours to wind down from a stressful day--and now that will all be taken away from us.

I don't like daylight saving time. Most people need two weeks to adjust to the new time, whether it is in the spring or fall.

I like your idea about taking a vacation! Enjoy!

I can't afford anything fancy or exotic, but it does help to at least plan the details of Easter, up-coming birthdays, our traditional St. Patrick's Day celebration, etc. Fourth of July is actually one of my favorite days.

I have had some tragedies and losses in my life, and I think the contrast of the sunshine makes my inner shadows feel darker--know what I mean? Everyone else's exuberant, heightened mood makes mine seem gloomy. In the winter and fall months, I feel more evened-out, and in tune with my surroundings. I like stability, and I don't like drama.

That reverse SAD thread had some good practical advice in it, for example, to close your blinds and darken your room and crank up the AC, a couple of hours before going to bed at night. Wear an eyeshade and earplugs, to block out the world. Meditate. Don't be a workaholic. Use a full-spectrum light in the winter mornings. Avoid alcohol, because it's a depressant. Exercise, but not after 7:00 at night. I did have a vitamin D deficiency, plus was not getting enough sleep, and correcting all that has made me feel much better.

I sympathize with exldsdudeinslc. Losing my spouse was one of the negatives I've had to deal with. Maybe he would have felt even worse, if he hadn't played tennis--who knows. But, it's the contrast. I feel the very saddest when I'm around happy couples and their children. Spring and summer seems to belong to them.

Rationalist01, I'm so sorry about your mother. What a rough time for you and your family. I wish you the best. (((hugs)))

I have mixed emotions about this time of year. I mean, who doesn't like Spring? But Easter I don't like. My mother passed away on Easter weekend, and there were all those weeks working up to her passing. I was 15 and shuttled back and forth for weeks on a 120-mile round trip to visit her. When she passed away there was all this stuff about Easter and resurrection and happiness for her soul and relief from her pain and singing in church and other preachy stuff, and I just didn't feel it. I was back in school the next day. Her funeral was the following Saturday, and I was back in school again the following Monday. Everybody was telling me how "Mormons don't mourn the dead," and that we were happy when people died. It was a hard time, and ever since I have hated these weeks working up to Easter and basically hate Easter. As an adult TBM I wanted nothing to do with Easter because I found it creepy. The flower smells reminded me of the "flowery" funeral home odors, things like that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2015 07:23AM by cludgie.

I think it is just that winter hangs around too long and summer seems too far away. Getting away sounds like the best idea.

some of my problems with different times of year have to do with loss.

Going through separation/divorce can be living hell. I lost my parents in December and February (withing 2 months of each other) six years ago. Both dates are difficult. My ex left in November and January. Those dates sometimes come back to haunt me.

My reverse SAD, I have no explanation for. Like verilyverily said, 85 degrees kills me. I've tried for YEARS to explain to my ex and my boyfriend "it makes me ill." It isn't just a matter of being depressed. I get ill. It feels like I'm "off" and when September starts rolling in, I start feeling like myself again. I also didn't realize until the last few years that the swamp cooler was making me much worse. It felt claustrophobic. I had to get a few of those roll around air conditioners. They've been a lifesaver for me.

My body clock does not like the change to DST in the spring. I feel "off" about it for weeks. I understand that feeling.

In some places I've lived, this time of year is usually sunny but often windy. That combination drives me crazy. I may be wearing a jacket to keep warm while the sun is also warming me. It's a confusing and uncomfortable situation.

puddle-wonderful. . ." Thank you, e e cummings!

I love this time of year! The world is coming back to life again. You can go outside without a jacket. Trees and shrubs are blossoming! Birds are singing!

You might have guessed that I absolutely HATE winter. I hate being cold.

Welcome, welcome, green-leaf time!

April GC?

From my old sponsor: These are the times to double up on meetings and other sobriety-based behaviors... And to hang around people who genuinely care for you...

He's also got a little ditty: "When all else fails, try the Steps."

Did I mention he's an @$$hole?

That stuff won't hurt, and I'm happy your anti-depresants are working; I went toxic on one variety two years ago--after waiting five weeks for them to kick in-- They did get me out of the cesspool, but I've kept another SSRI open as an option.

Anything from your past that's associated with some lousy/traumatic experiences?

And to take a "non-program" tactic, you might Google up "Rational Emotive Therapy" and look at those simple ways of addressing the malaise. You can do them with or without a therapist, but the important thing is to do the work and write down the activating events and the beliefs that are creating the problem.

Hey Cabbie, The wife and I are stepping on down to New Orleans and cruising on down to the Bahamas. I hit two years yesterday and aside from my annual funk all is really pretty darned good. If it hadn't been for my annual "blues," I would not be sober today.