Skip to main content

Seasonal Depression in the Wrong Season

I’ve always wondered if I suffer from season depression.

Every year at the same time, I start to feel sad. As the days go by, and the season solidifies, my feelings of sadness get mixed in with anxiety and hopelessness.

I start to look at my life, and pick apart all of its flaws. Molehills become mountains. Friends fail to cheer me up. Life, overall, becomes dreary.

The catch?

This doesn’t happen to me in the winter, when it’s more common to feel morbid and bleak.

I feel this way every year when summer starts.

Maybe it’s because I’m a creature of routine. Summer signifies the three months out of the year when everyone’s daily life is thrown off-kilter.

Starting from when you’re a child, you know that summer means three months of no school, no responsibilities, nothing to worry about at all.

The trouble for me was that I never saw any of my friends during the summer. I was shy as a kid, and calling my friends to ask to see them over the summer was nearly impossible for me. So summer meant three months spent by myself. At least during the school year I got to be social.

What good is a pool when you’re the only one in it?

As I got older, I got over being shy, but I still found myself upset at the disruption summer caused in my life.

I was never a beach person. If anything, I’m a homebody, and summer is not the season for homebodies. I found myself appreciating the winter, when if you stay home five nights out of the week to watch television, you’re doing what everybody else is doing. In the summer, there’s a pressure to go out and be active.

Last week, it was nice out and I felt like I had to go out and eat dinner even though it was a weeknight when wanting to stay in should be totally acceptable.

It probably just comes down to endings. Summer, for many of us, always feels like something coming to a close. The year may end in December, but summer is the designated time for change.

This year alone I've had several friends move within a few weeks of each other. I've felt nostalgia at seeing all the graduation photos in the newspapers, which has led me to question whether or not deciding not to go back to graduate school was a good idea. Plus, I'm reminded that I'm about to spend three hot months in a non-air conditioned apartment.

Call me crazy, but in the winter, whenever there's a giant snowstorm, I always feel sort of...at peace.

The entire world is forced to pause and settle in for however long.

Summer just feels...restless.

Luckily, I live in New England, where it's never summer for very long.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A List of People Who Can Go to Hell Now That I Can't Have Elizabeth Warren

So today was a rough day for everybody who isn't a @#$%-ing #$%hole. Let's just start there. If that upsets you, by all means, go straight to hell. This entire rant is going to be exactly what it sounds like. I am mad and I am going to exercise my right to BLOG ABOUT IT LIKE IT'S 1995, SO BUCKLE UP, BUTTERCUP. I really don't even know where to start, so let's just jump right in with the first person who comes to mind. Bloomberg, go to hell.  You really didn't have anything specific to do with today, but you can just go to hell for spending an ungodly amount of money on literally nothing.  I mean, you could have lit millions of dollars on fire and at least warmed the hands of the homeless, but instead, you made tv stations across the country that are already owned by Conservatives rich, so kudos to you and go to hell. Amy Klobuchar, I STUCK UP FOR YOU AMY.  I got into FIGHTS on SOCIAL MEDIA while DEFENDING your sorry, self-interested ass.  You know

Theater and the Outbreak

After last week's interview, a representative from a theater that recently experienced the results of opening too soon reached out to speak with me. I want to thank this person for coming forward in the hopes that it'll change some minds about what's safe and what isn't when it comes to the performing arts. Here's the interview: ME:  So this wasn't a full production or-- THEM:  No. It was us trying to do a little something for friends and donors. ME:  Who is 'us?' THEM:  The board of _____. ME:  And how long have you been on the board? THEM:  Three years. ME:  What was this going to be? THEM:  There's a, uh, beautiful park here in town, and we wanted to do an outdoor performance of a Shakespeare as a benefit, because, as you know, theaters are having a hard time right now paying the bills. We checked with the local government and the health department for the state to make sure we were doing everything the way we needed to in order to keep everyone s

People You Know Are More Important Than People You Don't Know

This post is in response to arguing with people--straight and gay alike--about a certain celebrity, whether or not she's an ally, if she's pandering, if pandering matters, and whether or not I'm an asshole. The last part is probably an enthusiastic "Yes" but let's reflect on this for a bit anyway without actually giving more time to an argument about a person none of us know, which is a crucial part of what I want to talk about. People you know are more important than people you don't know. I realize it's tricky in an age where we've never been closer or more engaged to our celebrities to keep in mind that we do not know them, they are not our friends, and while we may love them and stan and feel like we're attacked when they're attacked-- That is not true. That is not real. They are in no tangible way connected to us. Now, as someone who is obsessed with pop culture, I get that it's a little hypocritical for me to be making