Who feels anxious and low about Spring coming?

[crochetmonkey74]

Since a child, I have always had a dread in my stomach when the nights get lighter, like a creeping feeling of more hours to fill, worry that I'll not have enough to do, or the people to do it with. A sense of ennui that ANOTHER year has passed. It's really strange and no one IRL that I know has it. My life is full of people excited and happy about Spring. I do get that this year particularly we need hope and happiness. I was just curious if anyone else had this Spring dread?

What I don't like about spring is the reality gap - it's meant to be al tweeting birds and lovely spring flowers and sunshine, but in Scotland it's often just cold, wet and windy until June, with the odd Beast from the East thrown in.

unnerving is a really good way to describe it!

It seems to me we don’t actually have spring any more. As soon as there’s a hint of warmth in the sun people strip off and act like it’s summer!

@HerselfIndoors

What I don't like about spring is the reality gap - it's meant to be al tweeting birds and lovely spring flowers and sunshine, but in Scotland it's often just cold, wet and windy until June, with the odd Beast from the East thrown in.

Pretty similar to our Yorkshire springs then.

This is how I feel about autumn. I hate the darkness, really struggle and when it;s 4pm and pitch dark it's just the pits. Once the solstice gets here on 21st december, I start to feel better.

So although we're polar opposites I get where you're coming from.

Oh and also - the people chipping in with "helpful" tips about gardening or going out for walk or something, just STOP IT.

It's just like the people who witter on about blankets and snuggling and "hot choc" when you say how much you dislike the dark nights. It doesn't help and it just gives you the rage and an irrational wish to strangle them. Right, @crochetmonkey74?

No. I prefer spring, compared to winter.

No I am looking forward very much to Spring and Summer, I long for the lighter nights, warmer weather and blossom, flowers, birds singing and cutting the grass at this time of year.

But, I do kind of get where you are coming from. There is a sort of pressure about Summer that I can never shake off. The feeling that I ought to be doing something and having a sunny amazing time.

Most people said they found the first lockdown far easier, I am the opposite. Being in lockdown last Spring only reminder me of all I was missing.

Can you figure out exactly what it is about Spring that you dislike and try to find ways to turn it on its head? I try really hard to embrace all the seasons,

Relatable. For me it was because I had it associated with exam season, with all the associated impostor syndrome and potential for failure. Getting into gardening (and a bit of light paganism) helped. Seeing those new shoots and the returning sun can be really joy-inspiring.

This might sound odd, but did something bad happen to at spring when you were much younger?

It could be you had a big upheaval / disappointment / bad experience and your subconscious mind recognises the time of year it happened and is flagging it as a warning to you.

It's amazing how that can happen without you realising mycat. I've had traumatic experiences and then felt terrible around the same time of year and it's taken a while for me to realise.

RaspberryCoulis

I know what you mean- I have a garden, go for walks, breathe in the air, when it is warm I do things like have picnics, or do days out with friends etc- I even enjoy giving the house a spring clean etc
It doesn't hold me back, I don't just lie around wallowing- but I always have this pit of the stomach melancholy around Spring. I always feel a sense of excitement/ relief when September starts

hmm mycat I will think about that- I am not sure!

OP sorry to read that you feel this way. I have never come across this from anyone else before reading this thread, indeed usually quite the opposite. Aside from the recognised SAD and dread of winter, I have only known of a dread of the summer or school holidays (how to keep children amused and/or feeling bereft because 'normal' activities don't happen). I've come across several people who find autumn their favourite season though.

Yes. My daughter always goes a bit wobbly around the time of year we adopted her. It’s like the change in seasons brings up those memories. Smell is out most primal sense and the change in the smell of seasons can bring up feelings. (For me it’s the smell of autumn leaves that makes me feel sad (back to school plus other sad events for me at that time).
Our subconscious tries to protect us by saying “oh look it’s similar conditions to that traumatic event, watch out”

@speakout

I think I understand a little OP.

Spring brings fresh light, glaring, exposes dust and months of over eating as we open up and peel off layers.
Expectations are higher in the summer months- to do things and have fun.
In the winter it is acceptable to curl up under a blanket and read a book, spring demands more of us.

This is how I feel about it too. The huge expectation to be out enjoying the good weather when in actual fact I hate feeling hot - I get sweaty and uncomfortable. I get fed up of people saying 18 degrees isn’t hot - to me it is!! I actually do less in the warmer months.

I can also relate to the article about summer SAD linked to body image.

The lighter evenings taunt me - I should be out making the most of them etc... I much prefer the dark winter evenings and going out in the cold weather wearing lots of layers.

Also it doesn’t have to be major trauma. It could be a small event that made you feel uncomfortable and isolated. Someone being unkind for example. You don’t have to go digging. Just allow your mind to clear and see what the first thing that pops up into it that gives you a clue.

My dad died in the November, and my mum died the week before Christmas, both years ago. We live nowhere near either family (siblings). Neither will travel at Christmas, and they don't have room for us to stay. These are reasons why I don't really care for autumn/winter and Christmas/New Year.

I always feel a pang of envy when I read about big family Christmases (and irritation at those who complain about "having" to see family at Christmas - the exception being toxic families of course)

Spring brings the thought of summer ever closer. Sleepness hot night and sweating on tbe tube/train commute.

I'd happily stay in a forever autumn.

Yes, Autumn for me too.

I can't wait til spring, loads to do. Sowing seeds, DIY, being outside around garden and yard.

It's still cold but I can't wait. As someone who spent 3 months in bed last year with cv from end of March, and another 5 months trying regain my strength, I missed so much time to do things when everyone else was able to. I cannot wait!!!

I kinda had that before, I'd say from the moment I started my adult life to 5-6 years ago.
A kind of dread that whatever happens, I'll miss out on something.

When I was a kid, spring meant that the long summer break was getting closer and it was just pure joy for me.

As an adult, in a job and in a relationship, it was different. Spring / Summer meant my birthday, so getting older, and that feeling of missing out crept in. I felt like I was missing out excitement, career opportunities, and just novelty really.
And to be honest I think my way to bring excitement and novelty in my life was to party hard. I needed excitement on a daily basis because my day to day life was feeling quite bland.

My real issue, I think, was that I had no long term goal, no perspective at all, I was just living day to day with that feeling of missing out, I had my eyes on a future without perspective and felt like it was always slipping between my fingers.

It all changed when I turned 35, a chain of events led me to make radical changes in my life, and eventually, I moved abroad, developed new skills, which led me to have some tangible goals, and now I feel aligned with myself if it makes sense.
But it's only once I gain that alignement that I realised how mis-aligned I was before.

(sorry very long post to say "Yeah I think I get what you mean"!)

I'm looking forward to my lambs being born, higher temperatures and lighter evenings. This weather is misery and I can't wait for it to end.
Sadness that we will be lambing during some sort of lockdown and we were locked down last year during lambing as well.
Surely better days are to come.

I LOVE the Autumn and Winter , Spring is ok , but Smer is way too hot here and makes me v irritable ! Can't sleep at night . I actually don't even mind the rain ( also from Irl op !)

Summer