To wonder if those who love winter have very robust mental health or very happy lives?

[Comedycook]

So I was thinking about this after reading a thread about weather. Lots of posters saying how they loved winter...some even said they love the dark evenings and what really surprised me was the poster who said they loved dark, cold mornings. I assumed everyone hated these!

Now I'm not in a terrible place mentally and I'm not depressed but I do find the dark, rainy, cold days do affect my mood. When the evenings are warm and light I feel so much happier.

I'm really interested in how others don't feel that the winter brings them down and actually enjoy it. Are they naturally happier, more positive type people?

I like this time of year because it’s my parents birthdays then mine then Christmas - wedding anniversary in February so lots of things to look forward to

a very good point

Though Not sure the OP is bothered about people making good points that don’t agree with her! But such is AIBU

I love autumn, my favourite time of year. Golden leaves, Halloween, watching hocus pocus in the warm with the rain hammering and candles on. I am a goth though so may not be a good barometer 🤣

I come from a long line of Welsh and Irish people. I'm genetically about 27% mud, slate and grey skies. 73% tanless skin.But I hate it all. I should have been born in a Mediterranean country. Give me heat and let me bask.

Honestly, go and live somewhere with no seasons, realise how depressing it is for every day to be essentially the same, and you will find winter much more palatable. Living in the ME made me really appreciate the changing Northern European seasons, the different amounts of daylight, changing light, vegetation, colours, temperatures. I found myself rhapsodising about drizzle.

I love all the seasons. Love winter because the horses are in and you spend more time with them. Every season has moments of joy and moments of ‘oh really’ but it’s just weather and we get on with it :) but winter horses are the best :)

I have struggled with my mental health all my life, although it has been better in recent years. I’ve always been an autumn winter person. I’m very much an introvert, socially anxious etc. In summer, I always feel like I’m not doing as much as I should. I also don’t cope well in heat, and have horrible hay fever. The cold and dark removes a lot of that expectation for me. Cosying up at home under a blanket is bliss!I’m always so relieved when the temp drops and the dark nights start drawing in.

I always think it must be a sensory thing or something to do with blood pressure or nerves or something, because the cold is so physically uncomfortable for me in a way that I don't get from being too hot. Being too hot is gradual, but stepping out into a cold morning is a physical endurance I have to deal with everyday and it gives me anxiety. My partner however seems to feel the same dread about being hot.

My love of summer isn't about doing stuff particularly- I just love the warmth (except when it's too hot) and sunlight. So uplifting.

That said, best thing in the world is sat in a pub garden on a warm night.

It might do. But I have a snug warm cosy house and good waterproof clothing, and I still fucking hate it. I don't want to be "snug". I want to be light and bright and sunny. Money can't buy me that in November.

I love winter- I hate the warm weather and the pressure to be out all the time in summer. I think it’s easier to curl up in front of the TV and feel guilt free in winter. I like going for walks without sweating like mad.

i much prefer being in my own house and I think that’s easier in winter. I’m one of those people who absolutely loved lockdown though.

I'm not sure I could live in the one season forever but winter is definitely my favourite, I'm an introvert and I love the dark evenings and even the dark mornings, something so peaceful about them, love Halloween and Christmas, only thing I don't love about winter is defrosting the car every morning!! I don't think I live a particularly happy life but I'm not unhappy either

I love winter and cold weather, I'm actually excited to see it's getting dark earlier (sad, I know).
I'm ND and have suffered with my mental health for as long as I can remember. Bouts of depression, GAD (severe) diagnosed for over a decade now, but I've had it much longer.
I've just always found the heat to be very uncomfortable, and I prefer dull, grey weather to sunlight. No idea why.

Most comments here are not about liking the gloominess and darkness directly, it's what the miserable weather enables them to do - which is mainly shut the curtains and stay at home! Or wear thick jumpers, drink hot chocolate. When it is grey, raining, windy how long do winter lovers actually spend outside enjoying the dullness or the rain? They're mainly huddled up inside keeping warm.

However when it's hot you can spend hours and hours outside doing so many different things or just lazing about on the grass. For summer lovers if you asked what they love about the season they would mostly talk about the weather itself or the outdoors. Feeling the warm bright sun on their face, a warm breeze, the bright, fragrant flowers, birds chirping. Not hiding indoors trying escape the summer.

Hmm. Well. I detested lockdown with every fibre of my being, and didn't adhere to it because if I didn't already have MH problems (which I do, and which are lessened by warmth and light and sunshine), that would have tipped me over the edge.

I like my house, but I don't want to be inside it during the day. I don't have a TV, either, so the whole 'snuggling on a sofa with the TV' thing passes me by.

Haha yeah it's an entry requirement of aibu!

But it can basically be summed up as different strokes for different folks. There is nothing anyone likes that some other people don't viscerally loathe and suffer through.

Interestingly I have a friend from a Mediterranean country who has just moved here. She hates the Med climate and much prefers it cooler.

I’m the opposite. My family have been in Australia since the 1850’s but I’ve always hated summer here, even as a small child. I’ve always said I should have been born in Scotland.

I take antidepressants and find that endless hot, sunny weather makes me depressed. I need coolness and some rain.

Not necessarily, but I think they're mostly relatively able-bodied and not living in poverty.

I don't have anything akin to seasonal affective disorder, and I do find dark evenings inconvenient, but they don't depress me. But, as someone with co-ordination disabilities, snow and ice and resulting slippery paths and pavements make things very unsafe and inaccessible for me, and confine me to the house worse than lockdown. Fortunately we don't have too much of it in southern England, but I'm definitely someone who dreams of a non-white Christmas!

Winter is seriously miserable for those who can't afford heating. And even many of those, who can afford it if needs must, would really prefer not to have to spend so much on exorbitant energy costs!

I found myself rhapsodising about drizzle.

Now drizzle, I totally see the vibe of that (in small doses) because of one of my first loves liking us to walk around a large park near college. The misty look the world gets in drizzle- so evocative.

I probably wouldn't want to be in it for long though lol. He still likes to walk apparently, and lives in Wales now so probably gets plenty of drizzle.

I don't know why it's so difficult for people to understand why we winter lovers like the cold and the dark, even after we've explained why dozens of times and in great detail 😂

Same! I love blue skies, the warmth of the sun on my face, the beach, fresh cut grass, beer gardens, outdoor life. Hate being stuck indoors.

I think it's just us OP!

Well yes different people like different things...but away from mn irl, when it's freezing cold and grey and drizzling and you're making small talk at the school gate, no one says "lovely day" people just moan about it. When it's warm and sunny everyone will say "glorious weather isn't it?". Generally more people holiday in hot countries than cold.

But... in the UK we live in a climate where it can be rainy all year round. Precipitation and temperature are different things. I know it rains a bit more in winter, but summer isn't dry here. Rain is a characteristic of all our seasons.

I don't like it when it's bucketing down, but at least when it's cold and very rainy you can wrap up. Waterproofs when it's hot are a miserable sweatfest.