Lived Experience Forum

[suzanne]

Hello all 🙂

I've got some radio interviews this week about this topic on behalf of SANE and so I was wanting to pick your collective brains. 

Does winter make staying well more difficult? And if so, what is that like?  What changes?

Do you have any tips or tricks that make it a bit easier?

For those of you in the tropical north I'm guessing it's not such an issue.  But as someone who nearly got blown off the pavement by wind and rain this morning, it's a problem down south!

All thoughts or suggestions welcome 🙂

[suzanne]

Just noticed this thread.  Which is fantastic.  Thanks @Former-Member!

I'll leave this thread open for any tips or tricks that I can pass on.

[Former-Member]

I struggle with SAD, seems to creep up on me every May through to September where a surge of energy returns. They say its to do with light &amp; melatonin... and I do find I feel better if I spend more time outside. Today has a cold wind so not today, but upen the curtains let as much light in. Sometimes wearing those yellow glasses helps, brightens up what I see, love what they do to the colour green, I call them mood glasses lol Exercise is my biggest struggle and would probably help the most. I just don't wanna go out the door, lazy maybe, just can't beat that one much. My friend says I "need a good kick up d butt" - well, beating myself up makes it worse. How DOES one require more from oneself as well as 'be kind to self' ? <br>@Suzanne<br>

[CheerBear]

I too seem to struggle more at this time of the year and am definitely feeling it today on such a cold, grey, windy, rainy day @suzanne

I am finding it really hard to get up and get motivated to do the things that I enjoy doing in the warmer months, that are things that almost always help lift my mood. Gardening, bike riding and walking are so much harder at the moment. I'm less active and that's having an impact on my overall wellbeing, as I'm putting on weight (which is making me feel worse about my body), I'm tired often, and generally just feeling blegh. My motivation to do much of anything is low, and it takes a lot of effort to push myself up and out.

I'm doing what I can to work with the weather, so I've found a waterproof jacket which will hopefully help me feel like riding some more. I love crochet and am trying to remember how hot and uncomfortable it was in summer to work on my projects, so I'm doing quite a bit of it while the weather is like this. I found the brightest most rainbow looking umbrella I could, which gives me a moment of happy every time I reach for it when I have to go out in the rain. It's something really little but it does make a difference to me. I'd love to get some bright polkadot or stripey gumboots, but I don't think the kids would be as excited about that idea as me, on our walks to and from school 😛 Like @Former-Member, I make sure as many curtains are open as I can so there's as much natural light in the house as I can get. I love soups, so I'm enjoying winter vegetable soups, as my way of trying to eat something a bit healthy that also feels like comfort kind of food. I'm also working on a plan to get some routine in my week and will really try to stick to it. I've found a couple of local community groups to join (indoor ones) and enrolled in yoga (it was so toasty warm there the other night) and this will give me reasons to get out of the house, and hopefully some physical activity too. Generally I think I'm trying to appreciate the things that don't feel as good in summer, like warm thick fluffy socks, a hot cup of tea in my hands, and the setting on my car that turns the the heater on my feet when I'm driving.

I'm looking forward to hearing what others might add 🙂

[Former-Member]

Hi @CheerBear 🌷🌿🌞

[CheerBear]

Hi @Former-Member 😊⛄🌈 Hope you're staying warm 💛

[Mazarita]

Hi @suzanne, I definitely get more depressed in winter. Even where I am in Queensland, just the fact of the seasonal change seems to switch my body down somehow. But it's not as bad as it was when I lived in Victoria. Then, winter was often a truly dreadful time for low mood. 

For me, it helps to simply know that I am likely to be lower in winter. Then, when this inevitably occurs, I can remember and not feel as panicked as I would without that knowledge. What I mean by that is, I accept winter depression to a certain extent. I don't have a lot of strategies for dealing with this except trying to get as much sun and exercise as I can, taking vitamin D every day, adhering to my medications and look forward to spring!

[BlueBay]

Hi @suzanne

I definitely feel more depressed, less motivated in winter.  I think it is the weather, darker earlier at night.  You can't go for walks like in summer, i love the beach in summer, i love walks in summer, sitting outside.

In winter i feel more darker, deeper in my thoughts and feel i can't get out of my dark thoughts (if that makes sense). And body aches more in winter so that doesn't help either.

[suzanne]

Thank you so much @Former-Member, @CheerBear, @Mazarita and @BlueBay.  I really appreciate your responses.  You've given me some good material for the interviews 🙂

My partner suffers from depression but, being a Brit, he really loves winter and so it doesn't seem to affect his mood.  Bluebay's response made me think of this.  I guess it makes sense that if you love summer then it's going to be harder to make it through the shorter darker days of winter.  But if you hate Summer (he's strange that way) it's a different deal.  It's only a part of the puzzle but I wonder if it rings true for anyone else.

[Mazarita]

@suzanne, for me it feels like a biological clock type of thing. The winter where I am still has lots of sun. But, at this time of year, I seem to just get lower in energy, motivation, mood. I have the same problems in summer too, but in winter it seems heavier and more often. It's like my body has a hibernation instinct in winter.