To ask for tips in not feeling down as we approach autumn?

I'm the same but you can't do a thing about it.
The seasons come and go. Time flies. Just looking forward to next Spring and Summer that's all you can do.
I understand why some people go abroad for the winter.
Lucky if your in a position to do that.

I am with you and I personally find the romanticisation of UK Autumn annoying.

We see imagery of beautiful AI generated or American pictures of sunlit avenues with crunchy, golden and amber leaves tumbling serenely from majestic trees as happy families wearing nothing more substantial than some knitwear in autumnal shades walk around collecting seasonal produce and drinking pumpkin spice lattes, and sweet woodland animals in adorable woodland houses enjoying handicrafts by a roaring fire.

We get soggy leaves clogging up everything as an unending torrent of rain pours from a grey sky and 4 hours a day of light, whilst you trudge along like Michelin man in multiple layers but are still cold and wet and then try to cheer yourself up with a £7 drink which contains more calories than a full English and makes you feel nauseous.

Or pay £10 for a pumpkin that has been bought from a supermarket and then placed artfully in a field for you to "pick" with your child who is now having a tantrum because they have also placed multiple vans selling various junk food around the field and they do not really want a pumpkin, they want cookies, "artisan" (read: expensive) pizza and ice-cream.

But still, the hygge advertisement pours in telling us we should all be feeling cosy and enjoying evenings by the fire, knitting our own tampons and making jam, and people saying they just love autumn sooo much.

Early Autumn walks in the countryside/country parks/woods are the best. I try to embrace it all as much as possible.

Imagine how you’d feel were you living in Ireland like me….its been Autumn since the start of August!
(I’m only kidding, though the calendar bit is actually straight up. The old Celtic calendar exerts a strong hold here, and the seasons’ quarterly changes [the old Fire Festivals that’d have been the norm in Britain too] are still marked, and even observed)

I'm definitely from the other side of OP’s reaction to this time of year.
It’s the time when I start to come back alive again, after having been pretty much in the Underworld since early April, such is my loathing of Summer. Panic starts building at the end of March, and the first time actual warmth is detectable, I’m done for. Bright sunshine and heat, even Irish heat, would have me in constant tears if I let them.
I’ve no idea why all this has been my lifelong reaction, though it’s true that hot sun is no friend to my untannable skin, and if I had to choose, I’d be always cold rather than sometimes hot. (I’ve not exposed more than my face and forearms since around 1978!)

Doesn't it make you wonder whether all this, our ‘opposite-balanced’ feelings about Summer and Winter, has some evolutionary root, with Mother Nature having ensured some of us start revving up just as others are losing the will to continue? That way, there’d always be at least some of the settlement with the energy to bring home the giant elk/cabbage/elderberries etc!
[latest scientific study from the University of Barking ]

YABU

Feel the same way. I HATE winter. I don't think it's cosy, it just makes me feel miserable and tired.

I am trying to prepare. I am kicking off a September reset where I plan to really focus on exercise, nutrition and wellbeing. Getting out for any sunlight there is when I can, sorting my house so it doesn't feel so horrible to be stuck in. Basically try set myself up for as good "well being" as possible to counter the SAD. I think I might also buy a SAD lamp for my desk.

Seasonal Affective Disorder is a form of depression, and it can be severe (as it is in my case)! It’s really not a case of pulling ourselves together or not having other things to worry about. Sorry, but your post is quite ignorant.

YABU. I’m sorry but we live on an island in the North Sea. The changing of the seasons is not new, and each brings much to look forward to. Plus we still have another month of summer. Give yourself a talking to, go out for a walk every day and thank your lucky stars this is apparently the worst thing you have to worry about.

Your DC leaving home is in a completely different category and many report feeling heartbroken. Keep yourself busy, make a plan to visit them at uni and make sure your life is full of activities and distractions.

Sorry for earlier huge block of text, I had more to say about this than I anticipated.

A lower carb diet has kept me from autumn pasta and potato cravings and associated sluggishness.

In the past I enjoyed a boot camp style outdoor exercise class in the winter. It was a morning class so made the most of the light, though there was a lot of muddy laundry.

I foster dogs for a local rescue and I enjoy dog walks in the cold and damp. Cold, dark nights are surely responsible for dogs becoming domesticated 😀

It's way too soon to be feeling down about autumn.

I highly dislike winter, feeling cold etc but we have over a month left of very decent weather, hopefully - and if most recent years are anything to go by this will last to the end of September at least.

I don't usually find autumn too bad - the real slog comes in February (and March, spring is never as warm as I want it to be).

If the seasons affect your mental state a lot then you really need to learn to live in the moment and enjoy yourself when the season you like is actually here, rather than starting to anticipate bad weather in two or three months' time.

OP I am finding the same as I get older, I truly begin to dread the close of summer and the long winter ahead. I don’t even love the heat! I just dread the dark and cold, and there is more than a whiff of finality about it, something about mortality, which has only come on since menopause.
Something that has helped is having a comfortable, warm down layer. I got tired of segregating my coats to specific weather (a spring or autumn coat is just clutter if it’s not warm enough in winter) so I added a down gilet underneath and I will never go back.
I understand any ethical opposition; there are loads secondhand on Vinted if that helps.
I put one on in October and it doesn’t come off until May (by which I mean I have a few and they get worn and washed in turn). I’ve occasionally gone to bed wearing one because they’re so light and flexible I forget I have it on. DH is allergic so I have to be careful, they live downstairs.
I also have half a drawer full of silk long johns which I wear under everything.
If I can crack the raincoat issue I’ll be invincible 😀
Years ago I spent a fortune on a SAD light which did FA for me but a friend swears by hers.
I have no time for this coziness fetish, to me cozy just means warm and comfortable despite cold and dark surroundings and I’d prefer warmer surroundings I don’t have to fight!
We decided to scale down to a very small Christmas so the festive season is a smaller bump in the road. I still enjoy the anticipation and the Christmasy feeling but without the pressure or the letdown feeling in January.

Another one who feels it, as PP said a visceral fear, months of oppressive grey nothingness terrifies me, months of no sunless and the feeling gets worse every year, am going to research how and if vit D helps and at what dose, autumn/winter a genuine problem for me and haven’t found anything yet to reverse that, solidarity to fellow sufferers

Can definitely relate to this. The nights are drawing in so much, and the trees are looking much more orange. I despise autumn. Literally hate everything about it. Will now be in limbo until April next year. I bloody hate autumn and winter and it makes me want to cry each year. I dread it.

Oohh I like you! Good thinking.

I feel like end of August/ start of September has a real feeling of ending for me, the way no other month does. I mourn summer being over.

I can't be arsed with being cold. Having to wear tonnes of clothes and pack wellies, hats, gloves etc to do anything.

I enjoy cosy and have some autumn traditions with friends. Pumpkin patch, fireworks etc.

I love the feel of Christmas but hate the planning and shopping. Every year I try for only buying for the children in the family but my in laws are Christmas mad. They are a huge family and I literally find a sinking feeling at having to plan ideas for presents every sodding year.

And its cold. I loathe being cold. My son has raynauds and ADHD. Hence has freezing hands and feet but can't tolerate hats or gloves, so shrieks 10 minutes into a walk october- February.

I am also very much a summer person and feel slightly short changed this year as I've spent too much of it indoors due to kids taking exams. I also feel this sadness creeping in as the evenings get shorter.

Some helpful suggestions here.

I did read Wintering by Katherine May, and found it interesting. I like the idea of an autumn clean and declutter so the interior of the house is ready for winter. I already have heavy throws and electric blankets to get out.

I love hot yoga and this is the one thing that is actually better in winter as you go out and get the rush of cold air. Also plan to book a nice hotel with a sauna etc for some point over the winter.

But yes, I do feel I have to work to like it at all.

Wait, summer ends on the 22nd of September and then we might have l'ete Indien

Oww. If your house is really, really cold and this is making you really, really miserable then I’d say it’s a real priority for you to make your living conditions warmer.

Turn up/ on the heating - economise somewhere else
Buy plug-in heaters for the sitting room and bedroom
Electric blanket on the bed
Electric fleecy blanket/ throw on the sofa
Get warm AND comfortable clothes - soft trousers (elasticated waist) and cashmere jumpers, scarves and hats (from Vinted, perhaps)

But in the long term, would you consider moving to a place that is cheap and easy to keep warm a cosy? A new/ new-ish property with good insulation, a modern/ efficient boiler and double-glazed unit windows?

And I can’t think of anything good about winter. Perhaps we should swap. What do you like about it?
For my contribution I love summer because
it’s light
it’s warm
I don’t have to faff about for ages before leaving the house - just slip feet into sandals
Leaving the house doesn’t make me feel shit
my joints don’t hurt

I take vitamin D supplements and have an alarm with a SAD lamp that gradually gets brighter from 30 minutes before the alarm time set. I also have it set to play the radio rather than a blaring alarm sound. It really helps me get up on dark mornings!

I hate gardening. It’s housework with wasps (and other creepy crawlies).

It’s. Cold.
i know I’m not the OP but I don’t like it because it’s fucking freezing and damp and my joints hurt and leaving the house is a faff and staying in all the time is depressing and I’m cold and fucking miserable all the fucking time and extra clothes are uncomfortable and don't actually make me warm because my hands and face are still cold and heating the house is fucking extortionate.
Any suggestions?

Crochet and knitting are about as far from fun as I can possibly imagine. SAD lamps on,y help if light is the issue. For me it’s the cold. .

No. It’s about physically finding cold and damp difficult and depressing. Imagine saying ‘it’s all about mindset’ on the endless ‘summer is horrible with its light and warmth’ threads.

Get a SAD lamp, find something creative that you enjoy doing or get a dog! But definitely something creative or just something you enjoy, it’s easy to lose ourselves in busy life working and bringing up kids. Re-engaging with yourself is so important as the kids get older