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I've been going back and forth to HNL a lot lately trying to get some things settled, I went in January and I must say that it gets much harder each time to come back to the grey. I went in June last year and I left grey, rainy, and 50's and returned to the same. I tried to make it work, but ultimately it's too much endless mist and grey for my tastes and I hate the idea of dreading coming back into town. I think that was the nail in the coffin of Seattle for me, I just can't describe how much better I feel when I am elsewhere (be it Southern Cal. or Honolulu).
Some day I'd love to buy a smaller condo here and visit in the summer, but live in Honolulu. In my time here, I'd estimate that even in the middle of summer, we get a 50/50 mix of nice and bad days. Winter is about a 99/1 and those are bad margins for me.
Yeah I'm so confused and agitated (and I know part of that is the SAD). I need to go sit by my bright light now after another rainy day... but don't feel like it. I've not told my sister yet about my moving to Denver to try it out. It's either there or back to Nor Cal probably. I checked out Albuquerque but the job situation doesn't seem so good.
In either case I should probably apply for a few jobs just to see what I can pull up. It would not be good to move to one of those places, and then not be able to find a job. My sister is letting me stay here rent-free, and I don't have that benefit elsewhere. From the searches I've done, the job market seems decent in either place though.
I'm taking a cross country road trip with my Mom to take her back to the Midwest, leaving Sunday. I'm hoping that getting away for a while into some sun will help me to clear my head. Normally I'm not so wishy-washy like this, ugh.
Maybe try a weekend somewhere sunny and then come back and see how you feel? Since winter has eased it might be a way to mimic how you would feel after a nice summer, when fall hits again.
I can tell you as a SAD sufferer who is slowly coming out of it that it gets worse every year. I'm starting to laugh again and people are enjoying my company again. I remember in January two of my coworkers asked me what was wrong with me and told me I was being miserable and they missed the happy go lucky Naley. One even tried to get me to ride to Florida with him over break because "it will improve your mood". I had to explain to him that married women don't go on vacas with other men! LOL.
I thought this year was going to be better because I'm exercising a lot now and have lost a lot of weight. It was a little better, I spent a little less time in the chair and in my bathrobe, but I still spent more time there than I should have. Where I live is home, I have hundreds of relatives (if we get into the once or twice removed) within a 60 mile radius. But if I didn't have my daughter I would move south. At least try it and see if my quality of life is better. So I say if you can get out of there and try it somewhere else do it now, before you are trapped somewhere and miserable.
Congrats on the weight loss! I have about 10 or so pounds left to lose to get to my pre-midwest weight. One thing I noticed is with the SAD, I can't lose weight, and in fact start gaining. I was getting the other symptoms of carb cravings (which isn't like me either), but I think it changes hormone balance in the body because even controlling that I would gain, or at the very least not lose despite my best efforts. There got to be a point that I didn't even care. I didn't want o exercise and normally that's one of my favorite things to do. So that's actually the other thing that concerns me, I don't mean to be vain but I don't want to end up gaining a bunch of weight due to the SAD. It did get better when I used the lights, but then, I had the insomnia. I have it now, 4 am and I'm awake.
The week or so we had sun, I felt soooo much better. I was outside every day and built about 90 feet of custom fencing for my sister. Typically people know me as the energizer bunny. But after days and days without sun I become a couch potato and get irritable because each task takes more energy than what I have. Like I said I realized I had SAD in Cincinnati but didn't realize it because it wasn't as severe.
The lights do help though, but not 100%. I'm glad to have something that helps at least, but it gets old HAVING to do it 2-3 times a day, and from what I've realized when the sun comes out, the lights don't cure it, but make the decline into SAD slower. Seems the only thing to cure it (for me) are sunny days. Unless I can figure something I'm not doing.
Sometimes I wonder if the weather has something to do with the "Seattle freeze." When my best friend lived in Denver, she told me, "Everyone is just happy here." I asked her what she meant and she said, "You'll see when you visit." I went to visit and it was true - everyone WAS like happy x10, smiling,setc. Coming from cininnati in the winter I was in shock!
I totally get you with the weight thing. I started working out and watching what I ate in August. I was consitently losing 2-3 pounds a week right up until Novemeber. In Novemember I only lost 7 lbs, and since then its been a battle. Then this week back to 2 lbs down without an increase in effort or a change in diet. There were weeks where the scale would not move even thought I was counting calories and working out. I don't think I lost a single pound in February.
But yay, back on the up swing. And it sounds like you've made up your mind, just need to nudge.
I'm jealous, because I wish I had your opportunity to leave! I know loads of former Seattleites that moved to Colorado and all said it is so much nicer there (weatherwise).
If I was you, I'd be making plans to leave, but I can understand wanting to stay near family and enjoying the culture here. You are also able to live rent free and move whenever you've had enough, so opting to stay and try to work it out as long as you can is an option for you too.
This year has been better, so far, than the last 3 years, IMHO, so keep that in mind. Also, the worst time for me is in May and June when my body craves warmth and sun and I still don't get it. I can hunker down for awhile in the winter, but Spring just ticks me off.
I will say that I spent a lot of time belly aching on here last year, because I was so miserable. At some point you just need to beef up your supply of vitamin D (my Dr recommends 3000 for our area), exercise, and find something to do and carry on. Or move.
I also think the weather challenges get harder as you age. Florida isn't full of youngsters! I think that some people are completely unaffected by weather and some are very affected. It's good to know yourself.
But we are going to make the move, for several reasons.
1. My husband was laid off, his last day the 12th. He was offered a job at Microsoft on Monday the 14th. A sign right?
2. And seriously, how much worse could Seattle be as MN, heck we just got 10 inches of snow yesterday and kids had a snow day on April 18th. I'm so done with snow.....rain/clouds just has to be better!
So Seattle, here we come rain or shine. We are going to try it.
Brittney2323, I think I'd take some snow with more sun at this point, I dunno. I'd rather take rain than snow to be honest, but only like if it rained in the mornings and then was sunny in the afternoon, that would be OK. I knew it didn't get a lot of sun here in the winter, but I didn't know it would go days and days and days without sun and then when the sun came out it was only for a few peeks (rather than a full day of sun) then goodbye to it again. Then deep fog for days and then rain.
RustinginSeattle, I know, it worried me that I kept seeing on the weather reports how dry it was this winter. And, I've only been here since Christmas day, so it would be like this each winter PLUS another two months or so of grey. I really thought the sun would be coming out by now.
I've been checking the mountain forecasts and it doesn't sound like it was in Sacramento. When it rained in Sacramento, it was sunny in the mountains, even if it was snowing. Here it seems like it is grey up there too.
My weight loss stopped and then reversed because I stopped using the bright lights in the morning, to try to alleviate the insomnia. I then was trying to use it late in the morning or around noon, but by then I'd be doing something else, so started to only used it at night. I started falling back into depression and gaining weight again, and it took a while even after I started using the light in the mornings, afternoons and evenings again to sort it all out. Now I just deal with the insomnia by taking natural sleep aids.
Today in the rain I could feel the SAD coming back again. I've been using the lights but haven't been out in the sun (since there's hasn't really been any sun) since I went snowshoeing I think on Monday or Tuesday. I was going and running errands with my sister, and felt like I was pushing myself to go into the stores, if even just a bit of a push, right now. As it gets worse, I just start staying home.
I actually like the rain, in a scenic, romantic sense, but something in my body doesn't accept it. I say this as I sit here next to my bright light.
I think it would be either back to Northern California or Denver, actually Minneapolis is in the top 5 too, I dunno, I have to check stats on the sun. I'm in between leaving right away, or staying though the summer at least until I figure out what I want to do for a career. Right now, I don't know. I was in the newspaper industry as I said, but I'm not going back there, so I'm not sure it's that good to move to a new town where I don't know anyone, don't know where anything is, and don't know what I want to do for a career, and I wouldn't want to just pick something because I was running out of money. If I figure out what I want to do for a career, or at least narrow it down, then I have a better chance of zeroing in what exact jobs I'd want once I am there. Also perhaps I could apply for some before I move, though without a local address it might be a waste of time. There's also an outside chance I may do a PhD, so I don't want to move and THEN move again to whatever University. Bellevue college has free career counseling, something I couldn't find back in Ohio.
But then, as I said, if I stay here in the summer, I would probably minimize the SAD and then next winter be hurting bad. At the same time, for most of the winter, I didn't have a light schedule or a plan that made things more manageable - I didn't even know I had SAD until it got pretty bad. I "sort of" have a plan now, though imperfect it's better than it was, though still don't feel 100%. Since I don't have good medical insurance, I've not seen a doctor, not sure if that would help because I refuse to go on antidepressants for something that has a natural cure. Even Dr. Andrew Weil says the best solution is to move farther south, if possible.
Everything is so up in the air, when this was supposed to be the start of my "new life". I don't know, I feel very confused. As I said the SAD I'm sure is influencing this. I'm so glad the sun is supposed to come out next week when I'm going out of town on Sunday...
I'll be running in the Earth Day 5K tomorrow at Magnuson Park (probably in the rain) so see anyone else there. They should have a division for runners with SAD and runners without, and give us a handicap (LOL)
But we are going to make the move, for several reasons.
1. My husband was laid off, his last day the 12th. He was offered a job at Microsoft on Monday the 14th. A sign right?
2. And seriously, how much worse could Seattle be as MN, heck we just got 10 inches of snow yesterday and kids had a snow day on April 18th. I'm so done with snow.....rain/clouds just has to be better!
So Seattle, here we come rain or shine. We are going to try it.
JoAnn
I lived in Minneapolis for work from November through mid-March; Seattle is far worse IMO. I'm sure the snow can get old, but you guys get so MUCH more light than we do here, I can't stress that enough. The brightness factor is about 10x higher there in the fall/winter/spring/early summer...you see where I'm going with that. You're looking at about 90% of our days in darkness and misty drizzle, with the occasional hard downpours thrown in there from time-to-time. When it does snow here, forget about it. It's extremely hilly (more so than my native Honolulu) and when it snows, it's usually between 32-34F, so it is barely snowing in the sense it can be rain with 1-2 more degrees, but it manages to stick and it's very hard to drive in.
I understand the move, work-wise and all, but don't underestimate how dismal it is here 28 out of every 30 days (seriously) and the way it drags at you. If you have the option to stay for a while and explore options elsewhere, I would do that. Transplants such as you and myself seem to have more trouble here, I know Honolulu is a big change from Seattle, but so is MN and honestly, it's so much brighter where you're coming from. Not to mention it's windy here and the damp and rainy air makes it feel much colder than the temperature gauge reads, don't be fooled into thinking 42f will be comfortable compared to Minnesota, it won't sadly.
I'm not trying to disparage your move, but just giving you a heads-up as to what you can expect when you get here. My buddy's mom, who is a real estate agent, jokes that they only make money in July and August when selling to transplants, and sell the same houses again the following year when those transplants have to escape.
I think in the winters it's not just the lack of sunny days here, it's also compounded by the short length of day because the city is so far north.
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