2025/26 SAD thread

[Idstillratherbepaddleboarding]

It’s 1st September tomorrow so we’re back for another year’s SAD thread.

Welcome all old and new who struggles in the cold and dark months for advice and general moaning!

The only rule is no talk of snuggling under blankets, crunching in leaves (which will realistically be a soggy wet mulch, or pumpkin spiced anything!

Advice from previous years’ threads:

A SAD lamp can help as can a daylight alarm clock.
Try to get outdoors when the weather/ light allows it.
Try to keep up with your exercise routine or start a new one!
Remember to take your vitamin D and multi vitamins.
Try to have something to look forward to.

How was the party @Idstillratherbepaddleboarding ?@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding ? I'm very impressed!

I've been quiet because life's busy and i can feel myself being run down. Haven't got back to any kind of me normal since the clock changed. Had a week off work but it been spent ferrying kids places. I might have been better off at work. The longer light days help a bit but the wind we've been having and massive changes in weather everyday feel like they are breaking my brain. Like I said. Run down. I've even developed some manky scabs on my face which I'm told is impetigo. It keeps going and then coming back again in exactly the same spot. Was OK with it to start with but now it's just getting me down. Dr's given me a week of antibiotics to tak but I know they will make me feel nauseous so I've my head in the sand still. Noone else in the family has caught it and it hasn't spread anywhere else on my body...

I am pleased to hear things are easing off for some of us. It helps know it is slowly getting better.

I probably shouldn't say this... But I feel with my mn gang on here... But I'm already worrying about the end of summer. So much for Living for today! Happy weekend everyone and I do think about us all often even if my stupid busy life is getting in the way of posting regularly on here.

Omg the typos. Sorry guys. And I nearly lost my message which has increased my heart rate significantly!

@mrsdiddlydoo I know what you mean about already feeling a hint of dread about next winter- and we are hardly out of this one.

The weekend weather here was bizarre; grey, sun, hail, sun, rain, hail, grey, hail, sun.... it sent mood up and down like the proverbial yoyo.

I want to go outside and do some gardening hut the wind is making me so dysregulated.... Aaarrrggghhh. At least the washing will dry!

I haven’t been here for a while and guessed you’d all be happy and phew … and I didn’t want to read that, because I’m still sad, and stolid, and flat - spring doesn’t feel to have sprung. The wind makes being outside frustrating. And winter is looming in my mind. Instead of revelling in green leaves, I see all the leaves which will turn brown and drop
off come October.

I don’t even worry about winter coming, I worry about the weather the next day 😭.

One thing that is giving me energy though is drinking matcha. All these adverts suddenly appeared on my FB for expensive subscriptions but I just bought a normal bag from Amazon thinking I’m willing to try anything at this point and it is helping!

I’m so impatient for some settled proper spring weather that I’ve almost given up on it! It’s grey here today and showers forecast. My anxiety has been really bad the last week and I’ve gone down with a stinking cold and sore throat which I’m convinced it’s linked to my mood. I’ve taken the step of changing my GP surgery (got recommendations from a few friends) as I really want to be pro active about my mental and physical health, and I had realised I didn’t want to approach my previous GP practice because they are basically a bit shit!
Anyway the aim is to put myself hopefully in a better place to withstand next Winter. In the meantime hopefully we will actually get a summer! 🤞

It's so dark, grey and windy that I actually want to cry 😢 😫😰. I hope you have better weather

I think better weather is forecast for next week 🤞🤞.

We had thunder, lightning, torrential rain and hail yesterday! Came out of nowhere and was completely mad!

Seems like a very mixed bag of views and feelings here

It's been pretty nice here. The ducklings have been born. They are floofing about on the water. It's a bus ride for me to go and see it. But I am going regularly so I can keep an eye on them as they grow. Awww.

Really stupid thing to rant about - I'm having loads of issues with my teeth. Seriously, it's from teeth grinding and it's going to take a lot of very unpleasant appointments to save them. Don't get me started on the cost!!

I have tried asking the dentist if any of this can be delayed - partly because I wanted time to look into getting implants but partly also because it seems so sad to have summer ruined by this - but he has given very valid reasons why it can't be

I love May and June and was hoping to go away. It would be in the UK so I haven't booked anything yet. Probably a couple of long weekends, partly depending on whether in particular locations.

It's not fun, it's obviously really grim having to look at the prospect of doing all this work - but the fact that it can't be delayed until winter is really pissing me off. I mean if we could do it in November and December, literally nothing happens for me anyway!

it's not the fault of the dentist of course, and I have had a second opinion. One of the issues is that the potential for infection in cracked teeth is a real problem. And obviously if you get an abscess or something, you're at risk of losing teeth.

To be honest, I feel like I've spent most of the winter doing nothing and I'm okay with that - it just makes me feel mega ranty that summer is going to be spoiled with all of this. And I love spring - spring is my favourite. Got to get started on this next week. How sad. Going to need a lot of painkillers but my stomach doesn't tolerate those very well.

Thank you for listening to my rant.

I hope those of you with wild weather get an improvement soon.

@EmeraldRoulette oh no! Are you on anti depressants? Mine make me grind my teeth really bad!

It would be beautiful here if the bloody wind would go away 😭. I’ve no idea what to wear as it’s warm but then you get hit by a freezing wind.

Does anyone else have a bit of spring fever? 🤣 I’m a little worried I’m going hypomanic again but I’m making the most of it for now.

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding yeah I went to hypomanic about three weeks ago - it can be very unpleasant, but I decided to try and channel it as well, and got loads of stuff done. I did have to take Valerian pills to calm down during the day.

It probably depends a lot on what kind of weather you're getting, that's probably the cause of the hypomania.

I'm not on antidepressants no. Funnily enough, I think a short period of those might help with all the dental work but I'm worried it will make the teeth grinding worse. I don't think I ground my teeth that badly until lockdown. That's the first time I broke a tooth anyway. They were able to save that tooth so it sounds silly but I don't think I realised what a serious problem it was. You know how things get put on the back burner when you have poor mental health generally? I think it was one of those. Obviously, it wasn't fun breaking a tooth, but it was fixed in an afternoon. I am genuinely shocked to have broken teeth that they're beyond saving.

Sorry if that thing about summer sounded really mad but I actually had a chat with the dentist about it yesterday - I didn't specifically mention summer but I did ask if some of the work could be delayed

I think the answer is no

I wish you could see into the future because if somebody could say to me "this period of weather will be crap" that's when I would book it for!

I had a whole long thread agonising about the right thing to do just in terms of fixing the teeth!

It is lovely and sunny here today. I hope others are seeing the Sun.

What a lovely sunny day 😎. I've been outside all day and feel so good for it. I hope you had sun too.

@EmeraldRoulette Your word 'floofing' is brilliant 👏. To floof is now added to my 'must use' vocabulary.

@lyingonthebeach glad you had a good day

Glad also that you like the word. In that case, you'll be pleased to hear that we visited the floofs today and they were floofing peacefully on the water and also ventured onto the path, supervised by their parents.

It's amazing how quickly those floofs grow up. Last year, I think we left it a couple of months between visits and they had become ducks! And then they're not floofs anymore!

editing to add - my friend's cat floofed happily at my feet when we got back. He really likes the sunshine. He's a different cat in the sunshine!

After days of mood boosting sunshine,the grey today feels like something is dragging me down. 🤞 the sun returns soon

Yes same! It’s cold and spitting rain here sigh….

It's cold and grey here but sun is forecast to return very soon

I hope that's the same for all of you

It’s been lovely here and I’m trying to make the most of it as it’s due to be back down in single figures next week. WTF?? 😭

Planted out the night-scented stocks today.

It's been a wonderful April. The pink cherry blossom on our tree hung around for a month and we have the most beautiful crop of bluebells. The laburnum is just starting to flower, there's gorse and hawthorne flowers everywhere by the road sides, and I've seen to my joy that an ash tree (a proper one, not a tree of heaven) and silver birch (my favourite) have just reseeded themselves in the garden!

And it's light so late. I love this time of year.

Edited to say I've not seen any swifts or swallows back as yet! I'm sure they are late. We have some unusual bird-vistors to the garden though - green woodpecker the other day, the odd goldcrest, and there are lots of goldfinches and song thrushes. I'd live in an eternal spring if I could.

@SerafinasGoose yes I love spring it's actually my favourite. We went straight from winter to summer last year which was a bit surreal.

I also love night scented stocks
Often see green woodpeckers around here

How's everyone doing?

I'm afraid I'm not as good as I should be at this time of year due to my dental work mostly

However, we are having a very strange heavy atmosphere? I sometimes look at atmospheric pressure on the weather forecast. But honestly, the weather forecast is overwhelmingly detailed and I'm too obsessed with it.

Next week is forecast to be shit but the podcast is wrong a lot. I wouldn't have minded if all the dentist stuff had to be done that week, but I'm finding it so distressing, I've got a friend coming to collect me from my next appointment ....so I've delayed a procedure until a week after next. I felt it was important to have someone with me - yes it has reached that stage sorry to sound pathetic - generally I have to deal with any problems on my own so I think I've hit my limit

Guarantee to feel rough after it so I bet the weather will be really nice! While I'm stuffed to the gills with painkillers. I know it's selfish, but it's annoying when it's sunny weather when you're ill.

so basically not enjoying May half as much as I usually do due to the circumstances

I do still have that sense of time going really fast though - it always does that in May, after the absolute crawl through winter. Does anyone else find that?

I really wish I could be weather resistant. I don't know how people do it.

How’s this late late winter landing with you all?!

@Bonden it's bloody chapped my lips! I don't ever want to go outside again. Humpfhh

I do hope your dental treatment goes well once it happens @EmeraldRoulette Planning it so carefully and taking someone with you is very sensible. I'm very proud of you! Omg though, the whole this time of year going too fast thing. Yes. 110% with you. I hate it. I actually feel like it will be getting... I can't go there can I... We've over a month to go until the longest day....

I've been distracting myself by pretending I'm a person that gardens for the last few weeks. Although I think this cold snap and some of my seedlings struggling is probably the tipping point and I can feel my interest wane especially as the slugs and snails have made an appearance on masse.

So I have a vacancy for a new special interest. I keep toying with doing couch to 2k. Buuuuut I hate running and I'm lazy. Been thinking about decorating the kids rooms. Giving them a pimp up. Again... I can imagine starting strong and then my commitment will vanish and I'll just be walking over piles of decorating supplies for the rest of the year! We can't afford to ever move so I think I've come to terms with the prospect of being here forever and it would be good to make home feel fresher and a bit more grown up!

Got loads of change happening at work so that's probably going to send me crazy in a bit. Problem with working in the public sector!

So that's me in a nutshell right now. Fluctuating wildly from life is great digging borders, isn't this wonderful to how the hell do I manage to get through each day 😂😂😂 Hope everyone is keeping as well as they can 😘

What atrocious typos. Going to have to edit that post...

@Bonden it's bloody awful! I just drove home in tipping rain 😡 So I'm hibernating till the sun comes back (they say.....) next week.