We’re well into November. Sorry to state the obvious but it means we almost a month away from the shortest day - in the northern hemisphere. Oh lucky people south of the equator! Here,
light is increasingly precious at this time of year.
I know there are people who love the winter. (I know only because I have a good friend who loves nothing more than wrapping up like an Eskimo and striding out up a hill in any weather, and returning to a glass to mulled something by a roaring fire. She would live in Scotland if she could, and revel in the cold and the dark.)
Many of us struggle. And I think we need to distinguish between our winter struggling - whinging at the performance of putting on layers of woollies only to find you’ve lost your gloves again, the fact that evenings seem to begin at four o’clock when the lights go on - from those who suffer from SAD.
Seasonal Affective Disorder is a full-blown winter depression. It is very different from annual grumpiness. I am reluctant to get out of bed on grey mornings - but I can do it. I don’t enjoy being weighed down by thick coats and hats and gloves and scarves - but I can do it. It’s fine to not like winter, but we manage it even if it comes with obligatory grumbling. Many SAD sufferers even lose the impulse to grumble.
So next time I witter about hating the cold and the damp and the dark, and how I need to go away in January and February to escape the worst of it, you have my permission (metaphorically, of course) to stamp on my frozen toes and remind me how lucky I am. I have seasonal grumpiness. I am truly fortunate compared with those whose minds and bodies want nothing more than to hibernate for three months every year.
Ah! Our January and February are the hottest months there are! So you are welcome to come here :)
ReplyDeleteNow there’s a thought ...
DeleteI find November the toughest because here it's usually a wet and cold month. January and February are easier with more daylight every evening. It's the wet cold I cannot handle, never could.
ReplyDeleteJust found the word brumation online on another blog. Check it out. I wish we didn't evolve from it.
I agree - November is the toughest (though I deal with January and February by going away!) though maybe we should just think of it as brumating! (thanks for such a great word!)
DeleteI don't know where I fall, Jo, because I struggle with winter depression, particularly in January and February and I am actually allergic to the cold. Unless I wear a hat as soon as I go outside, even now, my scalp becomes one burning, painful sore. Awful. And that makes me depressed too. But I try and see the bright side as much as I can by counting down the days to spring. And walking. Yes. I know it's important and I make myself do it. As a teenager, I was on anti-depressants every January, so it's something of a challenge for me to try an get through the winter without them. Of course, in South Africa, it was fine...
ReplyDeleteI think you are much worse off than I am, Val - and it's fine to take anti-depressants if it gets you through. But people like me, who are simply grumpy, shouldn't claim to have SAD - it devalues the struggles of people like you!
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