Tuesday, October 14, 2014

SAD

I don’t know about you, but it happens to me every year, at just about the same time: around
now. Suddenly one afternoon I notice that the shadows are getting a little longer a little earlier in the day. When I wake up it’s darker out than it has been. Worst of all, the news guy on the local NPR station starts telling me when the sun will rise and set, including how many minutes less daylight we’ll be having that day, which drives me crazy.

Eventually the temperature goes down and stays down, a sure sign that autumn is here and
winter won’t be far behind. (Although at present the temperatures have been fairly mild, save at night when they tend to drop into the 40’s and 50’s – temps which will, soon enough, seem positively balmy.)

All of this, of course, heralds the onset of that curious malady known as SAD – Seasonal
Affective Disorder – in which one’s overall mood takes a nose dive, a general sense of ennui sets in and you don’t even want to get out of bed, much less get dressed and venture out. At least that’s how it is for me. Mind you, I can experience the old ennui at any time of the year, and I am not one to bound out of bed with a song in my heart and a smile on my lips. Getting up in the a.m. can be a challenge. It just seems tougher as the days grow shorter.

But there is something about this particular time of year that brings out a little melancholy.
Eventually you almost get used to the light fading before you leave the office, the need for
sweaters and down coats and gloves, all the bulky accoutrements of winter, and eventually the sinking feeling that it will never end: the snow, the cold, the SADness.

Some do manage to get away to some Caribbean hot spot for a week or so in the middle of it all, or go on a cruise, leaving me sad and a little jealous. But that doesn’t last long.

One thing that’s become true for me as I get older is the inescapable fact that time seems to be rushing by. It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were getting ramped up for summertime – and look where we are now, going home in the dark and anticipating The Holidays. Already!

So my heart takes a little comfort in the fact that this too shall pass and soon enough we’ll be anticipating the first stirrings of spring. Just a little something to contemplate as the season of SAD approaches.