Thread for anyone struggling at the thought of long dark evenings #hotchocandhyggetypesnotyourthread

[Hobnobswantshernameback]

I hate the long dark evenings.
I know they are inevitable.
But every year is worse. Think it's also coupled to menopause symptoms where my general mood and anxiety levels are dreadful.
During the working week November to T he end of February I barely see daylight.
I try and get as much as I can but it's tricky to get outside during the working day
i take vitamin D. I exercise as much as I can.
I do try and embrace the seasons. But I just feel really daunted this year by the thought of it being dark so early
anyone want to commiserate or share any coping strategies
And no I don't want to snuggle under a blankie with a hot choc
just in case anyone thinks that's what I need 😂

@CrapBucket you need to jettison some tasks - probably keep the dog walk and maybe shelve the diy or errands? Takes the pressure off and that way you can enjoy a thing well done and get a bit of daylight into your day

You are completely and utterly right, I'm just whinging and resentful because I really want the DIY to happen and if I don't do it today, its back to work tomorrow for another 6 days, so no more free time during daylight hours, and another week goes past without having got it sorted.

Tbh I think winter might be easier for couples and rich people. Half my moans could be cured by getting a spouse or hired help to do this stuff!!!

@CrapBucket - yes I need to sort out my home office- it's like working in a jumble sale. I'm the only person in the house that works and I need a nice space to stave off resentment (dp is disabled but sadly I'm not a saint and these thoughts creep in). It's sad that we don't live in a society where we help each other more in small and useful ways.

Ha! Don’t be too sure - DH’s slow paced approach to diy is the cause of —many heated arguments— gentle questioning about timescales 😂

Is anyone else feeling absolutely drained of mental and physical energy? I don’t know if it’s the menopause or this time of year but it’s awful - so bad I think I need to make a GP appointment.

For me this is something that has started, and is getting worse, as I've got older . I think when I was younger I just accepted life going on and the bits I liked about winter eg Christmas, snowy walks .

I think I hate everything about the weather now - even the frosty days,
although looking beautiful, I worry I am going to slip over.

The last few days though have been so depressing - it feels like it has been dark all day .

The poster who mentioned it being about the quality of light is correct . We try to go away at some time in the winter - only as far as southern Spain but there is definitely a different kind of light there. We have 10 days booked for February. My DH is retired and I've just said to him that when I retire we need a November holiday too. Even if it means living off beans on toast.

In the meantime I'm looking forward to getting over the hump of the solstice and counting down the lighter days .

I have just bought an Ikea cupboard to sort out my home office ( otherwise known as the spare bedroom) and paid for Taskrabbit to assemble it because neither DH or I were prepared to. I am lucky to be able to afford it, I know.

Sunshine on today's walk and ate lunch in the back step. Beautiful

Brilliant sunshine bounced off the frost this morning. Ears micro auctioned and I can hear my cats purr again. (Yippee no expensive heating aids!!!!!!)

Hearing!!!!

Suctioned!

That too🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣so so happy!!!!

Gosh I am really struggling with the gloom at the moment. I had a fairly major operation 2 weeks ago - and am housebound for another 2 weeks then only short slow walks building up.

Not being able to get out is getting me so down and making my anxiety start to climb as well. I’m also a single parent - my 2 DC are primary and someone is kindly picking them up and dropping them off but they aren’t exactly chatty once back.

Tried sitting next to a window today which helped a bit and seeing the sun - but feels very hard and oppressive trapped inside.

It's beautiful and bright here today although freezing frost.

The light is incredible though so I'll take it

Ugh! -4° here last night so got up to frost and having to scrape the car. How anyone can find that preferable to getting up to a warm sunny day is beyond me. At least the sky is blue and the sun is shining but still hovering just above freezing.

I find the sunny frosty days like today so pretty and lovely - I don't even think I'd mind autumn and winter if it was always like this, it's the fact that they're so rare and it's mostly grey rainy sludge!

Completely relate to what CrapBucket said the other day about feeling under pressure to do things while it's light. I'm really lucky in that I work in an office with huge windows and get an hour for lunch, so on weekdays I do get to experience what daylight there is. I'm really not a morning person though and on weekends it's usually at least 11 by the time I've got myself together, by which point there's only about four hours til it feels like it's starting to get dark. I'm clinging to what someone said earlier about the evenings getting lighter around a week before the solstice - I'm not so fussed about getting up in the dark, it's the 3.45 sunsets that I struggle with, especially when the day is already grey because of the weather.

My people! I loathe the winter and hate hot chocolate. I just want to be warm and not have the sun set at 4:30pm and having to spend my afternoons and evenings in the gloom.

Even my dogs hate the winter. They hide under the covers in the morning and refuse to get up to go for a walk. Then they'll only agree to stay outside for the bare minimum of time before demanding to go home and glaring at me balefully, because the winter is all my fault.

I'm not in the UK, but it's been damp and pissing it down here for the past few days and it's just unrelentingly grim. I've got a sinus infection, and I'm pregnant so I can't even take anything useful for it. Seriously considering setting my life on fire and moving to Grand Cayman or similar so I don't have to tolerate the gloom.

The last 3 days have not been so bad where I am. Managed to walk about a bit and sit in the park looking at happy dogs today. Felt better. Tomorrow am hoping to go for a really long walk well wrapped up.

Nice to see the sun making an appearance the last couple of days even if it didn't exactly warm my bones!

I'm seriously wondering how to move to another country. I can't keep having winters like this when it's sunny elsewhere. Two years from now my youngest will be in her last year of school/college. I need to plan.

Bumping to say hi
and hope everyone managing to keep warm
no snow here but grey and dark early and bitterly cold
so much for crisp sunny days eh
energy levels here are grim really struggling
hey ho eldest DC's heading home for Xmas next week so really something to look forward to

I count myself lucky that I live in a flat and it's very, very warm without us turning the heating on, due to being next door to another building's boiler room.

Did the nursery run with DS this morning and it was wretched. Even he was moaning about how cold it is and he's 3. Poor summer baby, he hates the cold so much. His first full sentence at 18 months was when I held him up to the window to show him the snow and he yelled "NO NO NO NO NO IT COLD" burst into tears and ran away.

Absolutely hating this weather and the endless darkness. Haven’t been able to get out as much as it’s just too cold for the dog early on the morning and later in the evening, and the pavements are like ice rinks. Everything is a faff - scraping thick ice off the car, wearing multiple layers of clothes, having to cart my heated throw around work sites because the offices are so cold. More heavy snow forecast for the next few days here too. I am in a fucker of a mood actually - this isn’t living.

We are a few days closer to spring. I just hate even a beautiful sunset now. Today the sky was turning pink around 3pm, fucks sake! I'm not really a morning person, I NEED a bloody evening, I feel robbed.

@SirChenjins let's hope for the thaw and it stays that way (some hope). I agree sometimes it doesn't feel like living. Trusting your mood has eased.

Solstice draws closer!

Cheerful news: Even though it's not quite the solstice yet, the evenings are already getting brighter now. The darkest evening was around Dec 13th. (The mornings are still getting darker until about Jan 1st).