End of summer sadness. I cant be the only one.

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I hate the holidays being over. I like my family at home and I love the light nights and days out.

I work full time as does dh but we always try to get time off in the summer. Every year the children go back, the nights get dark and my mood goes down, anxiety goes up. I struggle. This is the first year I'm on anti depressants in readiness for the slump. Everyone else seems to like the children going back and the change in season but I don't. I feel sad. I feel loss hitting me hard and I feel I don't cope well. I can't be alone in this. Tonight I could cry as my family is broken up again and swallowed into work and school. I am so lucky to have everything I have and I want to be grateful not sad.

How do others make the transition. Teach me how to do it better.

Snap-this holiday has been the best. The weather has been amazing, my kids are old enough to be lovely to spend time with and not asking what we are doing today at 7am every day like they used to!

I hate making lunchboxes, planning meals well in advance, supervising homework and waking up and coming home in the dark. I also hate the cold and the rain!!

Have you tried one of these? www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/house-garden/lighting/best-sad-lamps-light-therapy-seasonal-affective-disorder-lumie-how-to-treat-a6839106.html

I get what you mean though....although personally I'm struggling this year at 35 weeks pregnant with a 6yo and 2yo. Plus my 6yo thrives on routine and is desperate to go back. I will miss the summer though.

I think I could probably do with one of those to be honest

I hate it too,
I will cry when my children go back. I love the weeks and weeks with them in the summer.

At least I'm not the only one who feels like this

Me too...and to make it worse have had ds vomiting all day so although he's not back until Tuesday its my last day with him and it was spent indoors 😒

DS doesn't go back to school until Wednesday but I go back to work tomorrow. I feel worse than I do on the 1st Jan every single year, and that is saying something!

Me too! I love the summer time with the long, light evenings. It means that I have time to go out and enjoy the rest of the sunshine after I get home from work. Sometimes I walk to or from work, or sometimes both on the same day.

We went for an evening walk today and it was very chilly. Definitely autumn now. All the summer birds have flown away and it's eerily quiet. It does make me feel sad. I am not a winter person at all.

I've been stocking up on St John's Wort, which I take every year from mid September until mid April, to help me through the gloom.

I'm not a lover of summer (sorry) but for everyone finding the dark a problem, make sure you're well topped up with vitamin D. I was really thorough about staying dosed up last winter, and it made a huge difference.

Me too.

I love that the children are home with me. (although as they get older they do more on their own too)

I love the relaxed getting up in the morning.

I love coming home from work to find them at home.

I love doing things together-playing card games or going out.

I love having time to take them all out individually.

I love not needing to worry about getting them to bed on time, or nag to do homework.

MaverickSnoopy I have a Lite Pod (number 4 in that list) on my desk at work. I use it for the first hour or two in the office every morning from October to April.

I hear you.

I really struggle with the darker nights and find it really depressing. I find the worst of it is from when the clocks go back until 21st December- it just gets darker and darker. Add to that the fact I hate Christmas and it's a rubbish time of year.

Vitamin D helps. So does getting out in the light when you can, even 15 minutes helps. You're not alone by any stretch.

Same here. My DC are teens now, and I'm very aware we only have a couple of years left of them at home. I love the long summers when we get to hang out with them. And I don't look forward to the routine drill of their early morning commute into the city to go to school, barely seeing them and me being at work in the evenings which is the only time when they're around. :(

My DC are grown up, so I can't blame the whole going back to school thing. But I'm totally in agreement. I hate this point of the year, when we slide into cold and wet weather. I don't mind it if the sky is blue and the sun is shining, but when it's cold and damp, it just makes me miserable.

I know how you feel. My DS1 is going back to his university house tomorrow. I love having him home and will really miss him.

Gosh, this is me! DH calls it ‘back to school-itus’
I love not racing around in the morning shouting “shoes, put on your shoes”, the whole never ending cycle of lunch boxes and tables / spelling tests and after school clubs.
I used to feel low even before I had DC and I think it’s the loss of light evenings and sunshine.
I take meds for anxiety, but I am much worse at this time of year. This year it’s definitely enhanced by DD starting high school.
You have my sympathies and it’s definitely not just you.

Yes, 100%. I could have written the OP myself.

We went for an evening walk today and it was very chilly. Definitely autumn now

Really? I’m roasting here in Leeds. Walked round to Tesco a couple of hours ago in shorts and a tshirt

Same, especially as my smallest is starting school this year. Couple of days left though, so need to do as much as possible

I'm hoping for a few more weeks of sunshine but it is getting dark earlier which always makes me sad. I love those nights when it's light late and you don't realise it's as late as it is. I much prefer summer and this year has been lovely so am really not looking forward to winter!

Has anyone tried a lamp for SAD? Have been tempted but never knew if they were any good or which ones.

Oh I’m so glad to read this and know it’s not just me. I love having the kids home every holiday, but this year the end of summer just feels very bad. I caught myself thinking earlier in the week that I just want the world to stop, so they don’t have to go back. It’s just so much easier, the not running around and I dread turning back into the ogre that keeps shouting to get a move on, or get your shoes, coat, bag etc. I know childcare is hard in the holidays if you work, but on a purely selfish level not having to do the school run whilst coping with chronic pain is a blessing!

I feel exact the same, my dc is starting secondary school on Tues, I have 2 other dcs also and love having them at home with me. I work part time but have had lots of time off over the summer which has been lovely.
I have work related anxiety so it's been lovely having a break from it all and a break from the school routine. I am sad at this special time coming to an end.
I suppose the only way to get through it is to plan nice things at weekends or after school to have things to look forward to together.

I'm so fucking depressed. We've had an amazing summer sailing and camping. Pretty soon we'll have 6 months of snow and sun zero temps.

We've had a fantastic summer - daughter's GCSE's were over at the beginning of June so most of the last three months has been holiday. We've had one daughter in the States for 6 weeks with an internship, youngest has spent time abroad volunteering and son has got married. I never wanted the summer to end.

On Tuesday life returns to normal. Early mornings again, tied to the school run and term time commitments.