Seasonal Affective Disorder – How We Can Help Ourselves

There is nothing more depressing than looking out the window to a gray and rainy freezing cold day. It of course means, that unless you absolutely have to go out, you’re staying inside at all costs. Seriously, no matter how many layers you put on, you’re gonna freeze.

Oh, and don’t even get me started on cold noses. Ugh. The worst. Not only do we hate weather changes in the winter time, because they can be so unpredictable and mess with our travel plans, we tend to hate any kind of weather in general, especially as a chronic pain patient, as typically some kind of weather will mess with us in some sort of way. That, and Seasonal Affective Disorder tends to rear its ugly head around this time of year. We all still laugh at whoever made that acronym, right?

But winter time is by far the worst of all the culprits. Springtime we have to deal with the rain, but get flowers, summertime we live with the humidity, but love to swim, autumn there’s the dryness, but beauty in the air, but in winter we get the wet and heavy snow. It’s not like when we were carefree little kids and we could run outside and build a snowman (cue the Frozen soundtrack), now we’ve got to do all we can to try and make it through these dreary days! But they don’t only start in the winter time.

There is that time during the year when summer peaks and daylight starts to go away earlier and earlier until we realize that it gets dark at 7 PM now instead of 9PM or so. It throws our bodies and minds off and we get what we know as Seasonal Affective Depression.

Distract Yourself

Distracting yourself is a very important thing to do. We all need a good distraction every once in a while to take ourselves away from the mundane and the everyday. Perhaps you like to color? Adult coloring books (get your mind out of the gutter!) have made quite an impression on many people. I have three or four, and just purchased a nice watercolor pencil set. You could do something like a crossword puzzle, sudoku, play a video game, read a really enthralling book, write, draw, blog (wink, wink), just do something to keep your hands and your mind busy!

Keep Warm

I mean, this is kind of something you have to do this time of year. But there’s nothing like a delicious hot cup of hot cocoa, or I mean, c’mon guys it is #PumpkinSpiceLatte season. On a freezing cold day. It just has this special effect. It brings us back to those carefree moments in childhood when we would go and play outside and when we came back in, there was a hot cup of cocoa on the table waiting for us! Next time you’re at the grocery store, pick up a box of hot cocoa – mine is Arctic White Chocolate (By Land o Lakes!), splurge on it, get any kind you like! Then, when those nasty frigid days roll around, you’ve got something there that will pick you up! Plus, the kids will love it, too! Can we say sugar high, anyone? The other thing I like to do

Phone A Friend

Is that your final answer? Yes, yes it is. (Wow. That joke hasn’t aged well.) By calling up a friend, you’re doing something good for yourself, and for your friend. Talk to them, tell them how you feel. That’s what friends are for, right? Perhaps you don’t have their phone number. That’s okay, too! Go online and chat with them via an instant messenger, it’s just as effective and will help just as much! It gives you a little extra accountability, too. Let them know that you might be feeling a bit low because of the weather, this way, someone else knows how you’re feeling and you’re not carrying that huge burden of sadness upon just your shoulder anymore, you’re sharing it with a friend who can help you work through it. I know that it may seem hard at first, but, you need to reach out to someone if you feel low.

Watch A Comedy

Chances are that you’ve probably seen a comedy before. You know how they make you feel, right? You laugh your ass off, and you always feel better after laughing! Get those deep belly laughs in. They are so good for you! Pop in a funny movie or queue one up on Netflix and get it going! Pop up a bowl of popcorn while you’re at it! On the other hand, I enjoy true crime too. So its a healthy mix of the two for me!

What is your favorite thing to do to help combat S.A.D.?