'Tis the season for... SAD syndrome

[Rainbow]

I've clawed my way through the months of ever-increasing darkness with my ever-present depression starting to increase accordingly from September onwards with every extra minute added on to the dark hours,
which also exacerbate my claustrophobia in this tiny space I live in & share.

The early signs of Autumn send shivers of horror down my spine.

I especially hate getting up in the dark in the mornings.

The only way I can get through it is taking it one day at a time & semi-hibernating,
whilst keeping my eyes firmly fixed on the Winter Solstice date & doing a calendar countdown to it.

I always think of it as sinking down into a well of darkness that gets ever-darker the further down I go, till I reach the very bottom
but on the Winter Solstice I slowly start to rise back up again & my spirit lifts as the light above, which starts as a tiny dot in the far distance,
gets bigger & bigger as I get closer to it.

Once the I reach the Winter Solstice and Christmas is behind me, which is also a huge challenge,
it's as if a huge weight has been lifted off me & I can breathe again.

After the Solstice I don't care a fig what the weather does, as no matter what it's doing, I declare the beginning of Spring on January 2nd,
buy myself a pot of Spring flowers weekly & put them all on eye level on my kitchen window ledge above the sink, to prove it!

Works for me

PS: The Native Americans describe the turning of the clocks back, known as 'Daylight Saving', which I would stop immediately if had the power, as trying to make blanket bigger by cutting a piece off the top & sewing it on to the bottom,
and I couldn't agree more.

 

[JayCS]

The only way I can get through it is taking it one day at a time & semi-hibernating, whilst keeping my eyes firmly fixed on the Winter Solstice date & doing a calendar countdown to it. I always think of it as sinking down into a well of darkness that gets ever-darker the further down I go, till I reach the very bottom but on the Winter Solstice I slowly start to rise back up again & my spirit lifts as the light above, which starts as a tiny dot in the far distance, gets bigger & bigger as I get closer to it.

As I've said I make a habit of trying to enjoy the comforting darkness as a time of snuggling into blankets with candles and (inner) fire and meditation / yoga nidra, turning on all inner Light, enjoying better & more efficient sleep, whilst saying Hello to the Sun or even all glimpses of Light when they are there, cherishing it all thankfully, - and use artificial light to make up for it if necessary.
But... like you I do hooray a bit when the perspective changes on the 21st (or 22nd: 2019 and 2023...) and we've survived the challenge.
I'm wondering what more hopeful images there might be than feeling like being in a bucket put to my doom... (or does that part help too?)
I make sure to realize that we have much more than a speck of light, we don't live in Sweden winter.
As soon as I realize the light is getting less, I concentrate on the good bits:

• In September the remaining warmth and beautiful colours in late summer, bringing on the warm summer nights before bedtime,
• in October Nature is asking/testing me if I have been thankful enough for all light this year, & I promise to change for the better,
• in November I enjoy "Winter Time" after the last Sunday of October, meaning getting up when the sun's up again, which is more important for me and my activities, so I'm very glad about it,
• in December Advent with all its candlelight, real candles on an "advent wreath", 1 candle on and after the 1st "Advent Sunday", 2 from the 2nd, 3 from the 3rd, and all 4 from the 4th, thankfully my wife remembers to watch them, I'm sure this is a good ritual which can be adapted wherever & however anyone is (even to the solstice),
• Christmas time celebrating and thus fuelling Light, Hope and Love of the world (I'd celebrate and fuel that symbolism even if I were atheist or agnostic), using lights all over the place and on the Christmas "tree" (we use a few fir twigs, real of course, no glitter stuff), and
• all the time remembering Dec 21st is coming, so I can already "see the light getting brighter" in anticipation, meaning I am already coming closer to the light, the way down is the way up, much the same way as walking into a dead end and out again is still progress.

Another idea, can't remember if it's been said here:

• Jonna Jinton's many videos, like Living with the Dark Winters of Sweden; Midnight Sun and Polar Night, are beautiful, often meditative and inspiring.

P.S. There are quite a few pros and cons about Daylight Saving Time, it's not that easy. The idea of cutting & resewing a blanket, probably not just Native American, disregards the fact of our social life, including work. Simple answer: In the summer I move the blanket down, without cutting it, cos that's where I need it, and in winter, I move it up, cos that' where I need it (actually sort of opposite ). In summer I don't need the light in the mornings at 4 when I want to sleep, I need it in the evenings. And in winter I don't need it in the evenings, cos once it's gone, I need it in the mornings to get under way. If I were a bird - they seem to be able to - I could get up with the sun and go to bed with the sun. But I'm not, I need a set rhythm of 8-9h per day. It's not a contradiction between nature and machines, it's a contradiction between the rhythm of the sun and the circadian rhythm of the body. And everything that helps that helps me and my fibro-insomnia. I've learnt to adapt to the one hour earlier & later over a period of weeks, so the one day doesn't hit me as much as others, but of course bad luck for those who it does hit for a longer time. Not sure if they really have tried adapting over a longer period tho. Cows need a week and that is shortened if they are adapted bit by bit over a few days. But they are used to identical times every day - which human being has exactly the same rhythm on weekends or off work, esp. when on holiday/vacation, and complains about that?!? The health one is the only real argument against DST I can maybe see (just read it all up again, and I'm not convinced it is really one), aside from technical problems, which have been solved/habituated for a long time. A much bigger health problem is shift work.