SAD winter support thread

[AutumnScream]

Apologies i can't find last years threads but they were a massive help checking in or just reading how everyone was doing day to day to get through the difficulty of winter. So many of us suffer from SAD and no amount of hyge and cosyness makes up for it.

Yeah I’m struggling at the moment, don’t feel any more positive about February either. I’ve had a lot of problems with my joints in the cold weather and our house is a bloody nightmare to heat! 🙁

I feel stressed all the time. I am planning our summer holiday, but even that isn’t helping at the moment.

I definitely notice the mornings where I forget to set my lumie. I've got a collection! My ancient one is in DS2's room. I bought it in 2006 when I started a new job with early starts in the pitch black. I've got a more recent one and DS has a Lumie 300 which has more settings to set by the week or daily. Mine might be a 250? I have to activate it every night so that wasn't great for DS.

I've been getting up early to do a short yoga stretch which helps my body get working. I had a few fails in the cold snap because getting up to go down to a 14⁰C room exceeded my willpower. I've set some fairy lights on a timer for 30mins so I've got a cheery glow to look at when I get down.

Seeing the bulbs poking through, snowdrops and buds swelling helps. I like the micro details of nature when everything else looks grey-brown. The daylight is stretching that little bit too. By the end of Feb, it will be sunset around 6pm thank goodness!

Does anything help with the joints at all? Its been really cold again here the last few days and now my bump has started to get big i can't properly do my coat up. Have started wearing a big scarf but its freezing and making me feel miserable. Ive also caught dps illness today as i have a cough starting and a scratchy throat.

Yes I need to stretch more, just lacking motivation at the moment. Need to get a grip!

Im the same. I need to actually get out and start walking but i just get home from work tidy up and then stare at my phone not looking up good walking routes like i said i would.

It might sound a bit ungrateful, but I'm actually really sick of people trying to cheer me up.

I made myself worse the last couple of winters by not "allowing" myself to feel what I was feeling; in thinking I had to be everything other people needed me to be - cheerful, helpful, friendly, sociable...

I had some therapy earlier in the year and really worked on setting boundaries and being who I am, not who I think others want me to be; so now when people ask me how I am, I answer honestly, and say "I'm ok/I'm alright."

And immediately I get "oh no, just alright? What's wrong?" followed by attempts to fix me.

I've had to explain that for me, for this of year "ok/alright" is actually the best I can do, and if they want the "normal" sunny natured version of me, they need to come to back when it's, well, sunny.

Fully agree there its ok to admit, winter is shit. SAD is shit. None of that hygge shite here with the cosy jumpers and hot chocs.

Still not invested in a sunrise or sad lamp, not sure what to do. This January seems to have taken its toll. I don't know either I have had a constant virus, long covid, stress or just really run down because it's January. I'm so very fatigued. I get home from work every day and get a headache and am desperate for sleep. I've had meltdowns where I've been in tears for no apparent reason and I've been sat at work where a cloud of fog has filled my head and I can't think or do anything. It felt physical. I've never had such a rough month. Is it sunlight, misery, stress, lack of vit d? I am seriously struggling. I'd get a gp appointment but it'll be two weeks at least til I see anyone.😫I've just had 10 hours sleep and I could sleep more.
Will a lamp help?

I feel the same. It’s horrendous.

I can honestly say no other winter has ever felt this bad or this long 🤔 I wonder if it’s because everything in the world feels so depressing right now - well in the UK I should say!

I can't believe it's been effing freezing for so long! It makes me really tired and pissed off.

Today is hard. It's just really, really hard. No pun intended, but I just feel so sad.

I get it. I'm like that some winters. If I wasn't stroppy atm, I'd be sad. I had a nap after work and I'm still tired!

What practical things can we do when we are feeling so bad? I thought it was really unusual but it seems like I am not alone. Its not just feeling low, its quite a physical thing as well.

Anyway, glad to say it is now February. I hope things start lightening up now in more ways than one.

I take extra vitamin D and I have a sunlight lamp, but I probably don't sit in front of it enough, I just don't have time for sitting around.

I still feel awful though. Sunlight helps, a bright day, even a very cold one, lifts my mood if I get out in it. Grey ones make me feel worse.

I had the worst nights sleep. Im cold and now have a sore throat and cough. I have to walk to my drs to drop a sample in but its a 15 minute walk there and back and i don't physically have the energy today :(

I notice this. Any sun makes me feel better, even if it’s freezing

Actually what I've just been reminded really helps me is physical exercise. I went to a Pilates class this morning, and felt so much better afterwards that I didn't want to put my Depression Jumper* back on, and I've been living in that for days.

*A large, shapeless, deeply unflattering article that is nonetheless very warm and comfortable, into which I retreat when I'm at my worst.