Does anyone else feel strange and detached around the change of seasons?

[Lollyloup91]

Or just me?

I've had it my whole life.

The only way I can describe it is that I feel very different mentally at each point in the year and when there is a shift in the seasons I feel really out of sorts and not sure what I'm doing with myself or what I'm looking forward to... almost to the point that I feel stressed and anxious and sometimes depressed as well.

Anyone else have this?

Interesting post. Personally I get ridiculously excited when I see the Spring flowers. I hate hate hate the winter so bad so anything that reminds me of warmer times lifts my spirits. But I spend a lot of time outside walking the dog. Do you walk much outside in green spaces? I feel that if you do that regularly in the same location you feel more connected to the changes you see. Even I remember years ago walking to the bus stop and feeling so excited going past a certain bush and seeing the buds growing each day.

Do you feel like you have a Purpose in your life? As in a passion to feel excited about, we obviously all have a purpose. I think maybe the change in seasons is prodding at you that you may feel stuck in a rut?

Thanks for your replies!

I guess I'm not really sure on my purpose? I'm a mum, sooner to be mum of 2, and I have a happy marriage, with a half decent job. I don't feel like I have a purpose outside of those things.

It's a strange feeling I get, almost like I don't know how I feel, and it makes me stressed. I've long wondered if I am on the autistic spectrum given it runs in my family.

The silly thing is I get over it within a week or 2 every time, but at the time it feels really real and strange. Maybe is really is just me 😆

It takes me ages to catch up and get used to the changing seasons.

My mental health has never been great, and I was diagnosed with autism a couple of years ago.

Maybe it is just the change in the seasons messing with your routine, especially if you are on the spectrum. Definitely try and find a bit of special joy in every day though and getting outside in nature as much as possible does help :)

Depersonalisation has been hitting me hard the last few days, coinciding with early attempts at spring weather and my late Mum's anniversary. I'm feeling really spaced out, and I haven't changed my ADHD meds.

I can't say I do, op, but they've caught be surprise some years definitely. Winter definitely affects my mood too. I find it much easier it play closer attention to nature on a daily basis because then you notice that things are always in flux, always changing.

Yes, I'm like this too. Feel very unsettled and anxious for a few weeks each time and it's not merely a feeling of wanting or needing to get on and do things appropriate to the new season. It doesn't seem to make a difference either whether the new season is one I like or not. That said, I'm not a fan of winter and the transition to that is more one of almost dread rather than just being unsettled...

Interesting that you mention autism as I've been slowly coming to the realisation (thanks to MN) that I'm probably autustic, though haven't been formally diagnosed.
Maybe it's a sensory thing whereby my body becomes hyper-aware of the change, while my mind takes longer to sort of catch up and become accustomed to it.

I often feel quite drained and lethargic when Spring comes around, even though I hate winter. I put it down to the changing temperatures having some weird effect on the body.

I feel like I'm sort of dead inside by the time it gets to February.

I don't really feel anything, don't t look forward to anything, can't be bothered to do much at all.

Happy to go to bed by 9 ...

I think it's SAD but do sometimes feel like this at the end of Summer too.

Yes I get this exact strange feeling. Like I find it really hard to adjust. It happens more summer>autumn and winter>spring for me. Spring > summer not so much. Very odd, I’m generally very happy with no history of MH issues. I’ve always just chalked it up as in one of those things.

At this time of year I start to feel a bit more hopeful. I've managed to drive home when it's still a bit light twice this month so it's reminding me that spring is coming and I'll be able to go home and sit in the garden soon. I struggle more with the change from summer to autumn. Then it gets worse when the clocks go back.

I'm grateful for the big hygge trend. It's a reminder to enjoy the cosiness of darker months. I try to make them more bearable by treating myself to new cosy pyjamas, obscenely expensive candles, hot chocolate and regular bubble baths. It's still a struggle but when it gets depressing I eventually remember to have a night of enjoying being cooped up at home and doing every cosy winter thing I can think of.

I absolutely do. I like winter and I like summer. I feel really uneasy in spring and autumn and my mental health always takes a dip.

Thank you all so much for your replies it's great to know other people have the feeling and know what I'm talking about. It makes me feel less alone with it to know others experience it too.

@TreesAtSea wow we sound very similar, and I think it's very interesting what you say about it being a sensory thing or being hyper-aware but your mind takes longer to catch up, this is exactly how it feels!

@Paddybare I totally get the same thing, spring to summer I don't really notice, for me strangely it's mostly winter to spring and summer to autumn.

I remember first hearing the song Summertime sadness by Lana Del Rae and it really resonating with me at the end of summer.

I know exactly what you mean op.
Changes of seasons make me feel unsettled and anxious although sometimes a little excited but I am never sure why. I seem to take a while to process and adapt.
Summer to Autumn is the most unsettling for me but any seasonal change kind of feels strange to me.
I also think I'm on the autistic spectrum though.

@Wonderwoman333 this is exactly it!! We are very similar ☺️

I am on the spectrum too but love to see the first signs of spring. Now my son is older winter does not feel such a killer.

I would have to live places like Kenya where there is very little seasonal change.

That said I do struggle with change of course which autism is known to experience.

this is me exactly, September is my worst month of the year for low mood.

This is very interesting, thank you for sharing. My DH has quite extreme mood swings that I have been thinking are something to do with seasonal changes and moon cycles. I think he may have ASD too. I often think I could plot a chart based on his moods - they don't really seem to be related to what is happening in our lives (which are pretty similar all year round), but some other kind of energy which brings highs and lows, but is not totally irregular. He's bad now and I can specifically remember him being bad the same time last year.

O.m.gsh. yes. I feel like no one gets this and while I would venture to say that some of these comments are close to relating I think I know what you mean. I have been trying to explain this to my husband. He looks at me like I'm nuts haha. They're not emotions that I feel during the change of the season.... it's like a twilight zone out of body feeling I get for a week or two. Almost like I'm on drugs.....its the most bizarre thing and I can remember experiencing this all the way back to my teen years. I noticed it during all season changes but most pronounced in the shift from warmer to colder or colder to warmer. Fall to winter is not so dramatic probably bc of where I live but that end of summer hazy sadness markedly shifts on that first 60 something day and My world is thrown into a spin. My home smells different looks different and even my energy levels go wonky. But the main point is that I feel strange. Like I've entered a different dimension. I also get this feeling when I'm sick. No idea what it is but thank you for putting this out there so I don't feel alone in it lol.

@Grayspace91 I can TOTALLY understand what you're saying.
The sick thing is something I get. It's another dimension completely, something you could do describe even if you tried.
I will try though lol, I get a few different feelings, one is like everything goes really fast, and another is like everything's a strange shape, and it's not like I'm actually seeing these things, I'm not completely mental haha but it's a feeling!

I am currently feeling really strange with it being the end of summer. I don't know what I'm doing with myself and I haven't quite adjusted yet. It's a strange almost depressed feel.

As imperceptibly as grief
The summer lapsed away,—
Too imperceptible, at last,
To seem like perfidy.

A quietness distilled,
As twilight long begun,
Or Nature, spending with herself
Sequestered afternoon.

The dusk drew earlier in,
The morning foreign shone,—
A courteous, yet harrowing grace,
As guest who would be gone.

And thus, without a wing,
Or service of a keel,
Our summer made her light escape
Into the beautiful.

Emily Dickinson

Im feeling very peculiar this week, a bit like @Grayspace91 described, and have been wondering if it’s the switch in season. I tend to develop SAD around November so maybe this is a precursor.

I think I know what you mean op, but I only feel it with Autumn. The thing is I love Autumn but there’s a definite change in the air. Perhaps it reminds me of when I was a kid, going back to school after a long fun summer break, a weird mixture of excitement and nerves for a new school year.

I like all of the seasons so don't get SAD or anything like that. But I do get an impending sense of doom as one season blends into another. It is worse going into Autumn even thought I don't mind the dark nights. It's a strange, dreamlike sense of things being surreal but also a deep sense of 'homesickness' too. Once the season shift has passed and I'm into the new season, I'm fine.