To think a place can cause depression?

[Kittycattenklump]

I am wondering whether I might need a change of scene.

Appreciate that I am ‘lucky’ to live in a lovely place, I live and work in Windermere, Lake District, and have done for the past 6 years. I am 2 yrs single and happy with that, have some nice friends and am happily self employed, but recently I am coming to feel that the place itself makes me feel this weird depression, like a hopelessness, that I don’t feel when I visit other places or stay with my longer distance friends.

I left for a year during the pandemic, and it doesn’t feel the same since coming back. Even the people coming here seem different somehow. But I can’t explain. There was previously a kind of nature lover/alternative vibe which is now missing.
I rent and the prices seem to have flown up in the past year -although that’s an issue everywhere, there’s a sadness to it here as what’s left of the market is dated or drab for a very high price. Local friends are depressed with the housing situation as many are sold off to airB&B.

I am comfortable financially but the manic switch of quiet grey gloom then heavy tourism has begun to put me on edge, something hard to explain.
Perhaps the balance has shifted and it’s no longer the right place for me, no matter the grandeur of the landscape. It feels like a giant commodity, bland and soulless recently.

other areas of my life are great, so i do suspect I might be up for a move. Would you consider it? Would you live here? Would love some thoughts on this as I haven’t discussed it with anyone yet.

@Abracadabra12345 I think the fact that there are very few really cheap flights to be had these days at remotely reasonable times has made a difference- especially if you have a family and are stuck with school hols.

We noticed in a nice hotel in Majorca last year lots of Europeans, way less Brits than usual . This was July

This would be a factor I reckon

Apparently we’re at around 83% up by the end of last year of pre pandemic flights

Not sure if business travel is split out though as it is probably still lower (not sure though)

It took 9 pages before the ‘live and let live’ retort cropped up!
not bad going
Usually, and let’s be honest, people who say this are the ones who dump litter, leave the dog crap, just doing their thing, livin’ and let livin’ their lives, lol.

This. A while ago on a similar thread someone posted about Snowdonia and how dour the people were. Well it’s not a theme park, the inhabitants aren’t staff and they are not obliged to be smiley and happy for your benefit. And hill farming is not an easy way to make a living.

I do think it’s marketing, possibly social media, and growing car ownership.

I suppose the thing here is we are all very different, and there’s somewhere and something for everyone. However, a lot of people are reporting substantial, rather sudden changes in the atmosphere of certain places, the rhythm of life there, and the damage caused by the unequal distribution of property.

And whilst I agree with the poster who said we are still seeing the effects of the pandemic in people’s behaviour, I’m sort of not sure it’s simply that….

Well of course a place can cause depression. Some places can be damaging to mental health and cause permanent issues (think long term hospital stays, prisons, boarding schools, army training locations).

I've never been to Windermere so I'm unsure if it's bleak. But if you're effected by it and if you feel better when you leave then it obviously effects you.

i blame instagram - everyone "experiencing" places with a quick snap to post online and tick off the list of memories made. previously unknown places being put on the map for the perfect shot

our local river swimming spot got put in a wild swimming book and what was a lovely place used by locals has huge groups of "wild swimmers" descending on it, mushing up the bank, scaring off the wildlife, turning the narrow footpath into a muddy trench. now the landowner has fenced off the access (which just gets broken through again)

I adore the lakes and spend a lot of my year there. I am not mad on Windermere because of the heavy tourism , could you not move to another area within the lakes. As you know some places are much more quieter.

I agree with this, I think lots of things don't feel authentic any more. Like it's all for show. A friend of mine came off all social media a while ago and I'm tempted to do the same / scale things right back. I feel everything nowadays is exploited in some way and it's exhausting.

I agree with the Instagram factor, absolutely. Just from friends in mountain rescue that was definitely a factor with a lot of cases. (FYI, people rescued barely ever then give money to the charity…)

I think a lot of people assume everyone in the area makes their living from second home owners / tourism and should be just super grateful for anyone visiting.

Money takes the inconvenience away of anything nature brings… it’s freezing, but you can pay for amazing central heating and a big car to be warm in… it’s isolated, but you can pay for any shopping to be delivered… basically any “inconveniences” that meant people really had to love the hardness and bleakness of living here are gone. It’s very modern suburban looking now in a lot of homes (I actually like that style of speak modernism, but not from people ripping out old house features inside and out).

Agree the “live and let live” is only used by people who break the law. I think if you have people taking multiple parking spaces for camping in your local car park, trash left (like full trash bag sized amounts) strewn around your area, criminal activity with no repercussion, graffiti on old buildings and famous rocks, impossible house and rental pricing… it grinds you down and puts you on constant edge.

I wonder if you should consider somewhere where there is not a tourist or summer season, where economic and other activity is more or less all year round. I worked in a tourist resort (not a tourist based job) and it felt flat in the winter, and was glad I chose not to live there but about 15 miles away.

The other thing that may have influenced your mood is going back, as in my experience it is not something anyone should do if there is a choice. You notice the negatives far too quickly.

All this is really interesting reading.

I think that you do get used to surroundings, in a lot of cases, so whether you are otherwise 'connected' and content will all feed in to how you experience a place.

I lived in a large city overseas that most people really enjoy and find fun. Over winter, it was the coldest and greyest place I have ever been (not much snow, just grey and windy). Was going through bad times in the job I was doing, and developed some health problems that the cold made worse - the memory of all the time there has since become miserable because both 'inside and out' felt so draining.

I also lived somewhere I thought was my ideal, for 2 periods of a couple of years (and in my head, still kind of is my ideal) - but living there and having to be an adult, pay taxes, get around with purpose, re-educated me that it's best for visiting, and less 'me' if I'm living there.

Get some crystals and put them around your home,wear or carry black tourmaline.

I’m a fairly spiritual (non religious), sensitive person but I highly doubt individual power/protection objects are going to save the lakes. I tend to do that sort of ‘energy’ work in my mind and thinking rather than using objects, but in all honestly I’m right out of energy with this place :(

Interesting take on it, hadn’t considered that.
I went to visit friends in Lancs last week for a few days and it was like I became ‘myself’ again immediately. This wasn’t the company I was in, which of course you have to account for, but a fairly quick lifting of spirits as the train drew away.
The past 6 months I feel worse out walking, or shopping, etc. It is a sense of something hopeless but intangible. This is not my state of mind, which is why it’s so curious. It isn’t a gut feeling of danger or anything extreme, just a slow, restless erosion of my personal power and strength.

@Ormally Berlin? Copenhagen? Maybe- we lived in Copenhagen and I loved it but blimey a lot of greyness in the winter and whilst the first winter we had a lot of snow, the 2nd was nearly all grey gloom- mind you UK is the same

I can't say this out loud IRL because people stare at me agog, but I REALLY don't like the Lake District. Never have.

It makes me feel closed in and claustrophobic. It's grey, often raining and I just don't like it.

Maybe you need some long distance views where you can feel you can breathe again?

On the flip side, I have a happy place where I've been going on holiday all my life. I've taken my own DC there for 10 years too. As soon as I'm on the bridge, I feel instantly relaxed and happy. So if places can truly make you happy I'm sure they can make you depressed too.

@Crikeyalmighty Berlin. I'd also lived somewhere before that with regular minus temperatures, but months under snow brightened everything much more, and could look stunning in sunshine, even feel warm if you were wrapped up. The health problem was with wisdom teeth and the nerves along my jaw have never truly recovered!

@Ormally I loved Berlin in summer but having seen friends Christmas market pictures, it's bleak af in winter. Agonising tooth and jaw pain certainly wouldn't have helped it particularly in a biting wind howling through Soviet concrete.

@Ormally I totally get that- strangely I caught covid in Berlin in September and have had big neuro health issues ever since- so my feelings are tainted too!!! I did post earlier on this thread that sometimes it's not the place- it's the experiences and relationships that were happening at a particular time

Funnily enough I went to an appointment and when I was waiting a song came on that said "pack your shit and get outta here". Think it was a sign .

I live in a small city, it's nice but a bit villagey. I don't really want to stay here much longer as I'm quite isolated.

So OP I totally understand what you are saying. Go with your gut instinct and move somewhere that would make you happier.

Might check out Shrewsbury, although only familiar with south end of Shropshire.
Any areas you might recommend?
Not fond of returning to Greater Manchester right now, nor Yorkshire.
Shropshire does seem to keep popping back up for me…..

I agree Instatwat and Facebook are mostly to blame.
All the gormless morons who live their lives through and on these 2 particular SM platforms are the ones flocking to previous hidden gem locations for no other reason than they've seen pics of it so now want to also go and take the obligatory selfie there.

Ah then that makes sense. It’s not that the areas are/were a bit run down and shabby looking that made me feel uneasy, it felt like a long term, historical, ingrained darkness. I still feel it even in the new(ish) Westfield Stratford. Always glad to get away from it!

I wouldn't be as rude about social media users (ie, most of us) as yants, but the recent post on here by the poster who had seen a lovely deserted photo of Mont St Michel on Insta and was desperate to go, only to be put off by everyone telling her that it's actually very crowded, did make me chuckle 😏