Sick of wasting my life because of the rain

[GoodnightAdeline]

I don’t care how many people say ‘it was always like this..’ yes it rained a lot when I was a kid but now it does nothing BUT rain.

I swear to God out of the last 30 days we have had 1 or maybe 2 where it wasn’t fucking raining. And they’re always midweek.

I feel like all we do is sit inside going stir crazy waiting for the rain to stop. I have 2 small children and while they’re desperate to go to the park/beach, even they’re not keen in a torrential downpour with everything covered in mud.

I’m sick of all my plans being cancelled, staring out of the window at depressing grey skies and trying to figure out how to pass the weekend without spending a ton of cash on expensive (and brief) indoor activities.

It’s driving me fucking crazy and not an exaggeration to say it’s sending me into some kind of low level depression. 🍷

No rain, no flowers.
We live on as island which is naturally wet, cloudy and damp.
But very green.

First line nailed it for me. Walked the dog in five miles of mud yesterday, woods, fields, streams, shitted up to the eyeballs both of us, stripped off in the garage, clothes in the washer, dog in the shower followed by me. Steps for day done, feel clean and refreshed. Kids grown up now but we all did this, I’d let them get pissed wet through in puddles and torrential rain then put them in the bath and PJs with hot chocolate.

takeaway and wine for me.

happy days.

Ask me again when it’s baking hot and I need to lie in a darkened room. I’m that person that hates the endless heat and sun.

OP I have invested in a long raincoat and while it makes me markedly less infuriated by pushing the pram in the rain.

It’s amazing actually. Would recommend.

Are you really this incredibly stupid and ignorant? It’s a direct consequence of climate change

Slippy equipment

I agree! Endless, cold, wet, dreary, dull, depressing, just pissing it down day after day.....

It has rained more than average for the last few months. Although I’ve only had one day where I needed to change plans. I think picnics are unrealistic for this time of year in the uk. Maybe you’re just craving proper spring and summer? It will depend where you live as well. Someone I know was saying recently that it has rained where she is every day since December. And all of these sanctimonious posters with their ‘just wear the right clothes’ are missing the point of your post. It is depressing, it does get you down and I don’t blame you for feeling how you do.

Sweetheart, we are in England not the Caribbean. Get used to the mardy weather .....

Thank you for saying this.

I really hate that expression about bad weather and bad clothing.

It’s utterly ridiculous.

Bad weather clothing does not combat any the problems associated with bad weather. And yes it has been absolutely dreadful.

And it isn’t normal. It’s one of the wettest winters I can recall but mum’s experience is worth more, at 85.

she’s got some stats - 75% more rain than usual for our area I think she said.

I walk everywhere (because I can’t drive anymore for health reasons) and I certainly don’t feel like going out any more than I actually have to. I’m stuck going out in it all the time for essentials like commuting, I’m not going to add to that. On top of that, the weather forecast is wrong all the time and it’s impossible to plan anything.

Where do you live? It’s been lovely in London today, have done diy outside, been to the park, even had lunch outside!!

It rarely rains all day. We just go out when it’s dry and bring a Mac. Also weatherproof trousers for the toddler, they love the rain! When it get really bad we head to a pub for some food and a pint!

Have you thought of moving to a warmer/drier country?

I get it OP. It has rained for the last 4 months here. I have a dog, and much as I love her I have not enjoyed the constant soaking muddy walks. The work it creates, washing her, washing the towels, cleaning the floors. It’s exhausting and drags me down. And yes the lack of sunshine and Vit D definitely affects me.

When it finally stops raining it’s still going to take weeks to dry the ground out.

@GoodnightAdeline I hear you and I think what you want from this post is different to some of the answers you'll get. Lots of people are ok in the rain and make the most of it - for example, my partner works on the moors and is genuinely fine with the rain if he has the right gear. It's a bit invalidating - you're not unreasonable to feel this way even if other people don't. Just because other people can cope with the weather, you can't. You are just different.

If I walk the dog in the rain, I wear the right gear, but I still don't enjoy it. I hate water in my face, I hate the mud the dog brings back, and I have Raynaud's so I lose all feeling in my hands and feet regardless of what I wear. I am an outdoor person and have excellent gear but all it does is make it tolerable/possible. I got hypothermia last year on the hottest day of the year when I got caught in a thunderstorm!

I would suggest maybe a few things. Firstly, accept that some parts of life just suck, but they get better. Don't pressure yourself to feel differently but be kind to yourself to put some things in place to help deal with it. I have started doing this (but also being conscious about not moaning) and surprisingly I've done more of the crap things because I can prepare myself properly. I think relief is one of the best feelings and I'll go and do something for this feeling and reward afterwards. But intention is the key. "I'm going to walk the dog in the rain because he'll enjoy it, and afterwards I'm going to have a lovely hot chocolate".

E.g get outside in the rain, accept you'll feel a bit crap but recognise that you're doing it because of A B and C (e.g. exercise, kids do something). Then pair it with something nice afterwards or make sure that you can get comfortable afterwards, e.g. make time for a bath or shower. Maybe get something to help with the mud, or have a specific treat waiting for you afterwards. But also if you don't have to go out in the rain, don't!

Maybe you can look at your budget and assign more money to days out in crap weather (literally a rainy day fund) but then when the weather is better, commit to saving a bit of that money back by doing free things outside.

Are your children made of sugar?

Are you in the north west OP? It's been fucking miserable but tbh 2023 was a washout practically the whole year too, so it's been grim a very very long time now. We have been getting more rainfall than we used to, some people have already posted the links. We have had some dry and even occasionally bright days here over the past few weeks but these have been almost exclusively weekdays when we are at work/school/nursery so like you our weekends have been pretty boring for months tbh. We are lucky that we do have lots of local family so we kill a few hours here and there by visiting them, but my youngest is 2 and is hard work in houses that are not toddler-proofed so it's not very enjoyable a lot of the time. So much easier when I can take them out.

My 2yo also has additional needs relating to his gross motor skills so I really can't take him out in poor weather, he would spend too much of it on the floor. We actually did used to take DC1 out in a puddle suit and wellies to jump in puddles and play in our closest park in the rain as a toddler, but thats just not safe and feasible for DC2 at the same age due to his physical ability being so much less. The other thing is we were ALWAYS the only family out in wet weather in parks etc, these threads always attract people saying they went/go out in all weathers but none of you must live in my city because we would never see anyone else except some dog lone dog walkers.

I get SAD too so it really does have a big impact on my mental health. I'm ok up until new year with the bad weather because of all the Christmas and NY festivities but January-end of March/April depending on weather I'm just really wishing the time away until May or so.

This winter has been particularly wet.

But I fear we will have a hideously hot summer this year after having a reprieve last year.

I like it when it's sunny and somewhere between 15 and 22 degrees!

My DN always said, no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothes.
All in ones, Wellies and have fun.

You're definitely winning Maddest Thread Title of the Week 😂 The competition was stiff, as always 🏆

I'm sorry to hear you and your DC are soluble, OP.

This rain is so important.

We need 12 weeks constant rain to replenish after the exceptionally hot and dry summer last year. Even the big trees started dying. I think it's fortunate we have this rain.

Drier times are coming but for now we need the rain.

Now I remembering that feeling of panic taking out a recently potty trained toddler in a puddlesuit in the mud.

Maybe I'd hate it less if I'd had a housekeeper to hand over the muddy stuff to deal with or a nanny to hand the kids over to while I went and washed it myself. The dealing with whiney wet kids and a ton of the "right clothing" to scrub was even worse than the muddy outing.

YANBU.

I’m sick of it too. Fours year ago in lockdown we were (thankfully) having a gorgeous spring, hardly any rain.

I'm with you OP. I long for some warm weather. This winter has been relentlessly wet. I have appropriate wet weather gear but find no joy in trudging around in the wet and the mud and the cold.

We have had quite a nice sunny day today, albeit with a wind that goes right through you. Just checked the weather and rain is forecast for every day next week. Sigh.

Haven’t read the whole thread but why can’t you just go anyway? We go to the woods, park, seaside etc in the rain, just put waterproofs and wellies on. Even just walk to jump in puddles. It would do my head in too sat inside with the kids every day because of the weather. We live in a really rainy place, just get on with it . Children don’t care about rain half as much as adults do.

And all that ‘right’ clothing costs a fuck ton of money and lasts about 5 minutes with growing children, and then you need somewhere to dry it all out before you go out for the next bout of fun fun fun! in the pissing, freezing rain and mud.

I get you OP.

Also it rained all through August last year and then became hideously hot the day the DC returned to school.

Some posters here are being rather unrealistic about what is achievable with small children in bad weather.

I went for a walk yesterday. Yes toddler in their waterproofs. It hailstoned twice. They did not enjoy it.

The idea every family is happily gambolling about in the rain / cold / mud is a little unrealistic.