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I'll admit I just came here today to complain. So here goes.
I live in upstate NY (true upstate, Canada is 20 minutes away) and I have SAD. I am currently at bottom, crying or tearing up every day, taking a couple of showers a day, just everything associated with depression. SAD isn't being blue or wishing winter was over, its being depressed. I do everything the experts recommend, I take vitamin D which helps a little. Light therapy did nothing to help. Since August I have lost 50 pounds and totally changed my lifestyle. I exercise 5-6 days a week. I thought this year would be better because exercise is supposed to help, but there's no difference in the SAD. I do EVERYTHING that's been recommended and still it hit this year. For me it isn't the light so much as the cold that brings me down. I hate all winter activities because they require being out in the cold. We cannot afford vacas to warmer climates every year so I am stuck here until the weather warms up at the end of May. Once we hit 70s I am a totally different person. The depression is completely gone. By July I forget it even existed and think I was exaggerating the symptoms.
I am so sick of winter.
Don't fret - the sun is now coming toward the northern hemisphere again
It's not quire that bad for me but I do find myself with more energy and better mood in spring and summer. In the winter I'm usually more lazy and don't really want to go outside that much.
I can relate to this in a big way. When I was a kid, I didn't think about weather much. I decided to go to college in Ottawa, ON and I knew it was much colder there but I didn't think it would bother me or be an issue. How wrong I was! After the first year, I thought I was living in a kind of frozen hell. By the second year I had PTSD symptoms when fall came and thought about the impending long winter. I started to feel very depressed when winter arrived and didn't want to go outside AT ALL. I vowed after my second.year that I was moving anywhere warm when I finished school. When I finally graduated, I moved to Shenzhen, China to teach English. I absolutely loved the climate there compared to Ottawa but living in China was not my cup of tea, so I decided to move back to Vancouver. I've been living here since. I hope to move back to the tropics/subtropics one day. Hopefully sooner rather than later!
I used to love winter. I lived in a few very cold,snowy climates. It was fun to battle the elements. As I am getting older, winter has become a pain. I just get cold so much easier. I moved north many years ago to get away from the heat. Now I like heat. I am now in a little better climate. Winters in my state are not severe, but it can still be plenty cold. And I do find myself staying in as much as possible in winter, but at least I don't get too depressed. Come summer, I appreciate every day.
I used to love winter. I lived in a few very cold,snowy climates. It was fun to battle the elements. As I am getting older, winter has become a pain. I just get cold so much easier. I moved north many years ago to get away from the heat. Now I like heat. I am now in a little better climate. Winters in my state are not severe, but it can still be plenty cold. And I do find myself staying in as much as possible in winter, but at least I don't get too depressed. Come summer, I appreciate every day.
This is what I find to. When I was a kid winters were great, now not so much. One problem is I'm skinny so I get cold easily. Problem number two is shoveling all of the snow.
For me its the temperature and not so much the gloom. Although there are times in February and March where I get so sick of seeing gray. Gray trees, skies, roads, snow. Yesterday it was 40 degrees and I was so happy. I got up at 5 and did laundry and dishes and cleaned. I was so proud thinking I'd improved my attitude and licked this winter blah thing. Then I checked the themometer to decide how long the cars needed to warm up and saw it was already 38 degrees out. By the time I left work it was something like 48 degrees. I was just in a good mood.
We really can't afford it this year, but come April I might be stuffing my family in the car and going to visit my grandparents in Myrtle Beach. Even if its only 60 there, there is something about the sunshine in S.C., it seems brighter. Plus, I want to go back sine I lost 50 lbs since I was there last year.
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