A Tangent: There Was A Time

[Suicide Junkie]

What is really nifty, is taking a room that normally has six 40 watt incandescent bulbs.
Then replacing those with 32watt dimmable flourescents. Which means a nice light level at minimum power, and the equivalent of a thousand watts incandescent when you crank it up.

Here comes the sun!

Even though its only perhaps 1/50th the brightness of a summer day, its plenty enough to get you the antidepressant effect.

[dogscoff]

Some ways of dealing with winter darkness and cold:

-It's easy to get blinkered by Christmas at this time of year: There's so much focus on it in the media and from families that you can completely forget about anything beyond it, and the autumn/winter months become a painful slog toward this one day (that you're already sick of by mid-november) with absolutely nothing on the other side.[1] Therefore, spend the next month or two making plans for fully appreciating next year's spring and summer: Get online and look up local summer festivals and events to attend. Buy tickets for gigs. Contact friends and relatives and arrange visits. Then, whenever winter gets you down, you can think about what a great 2006 you will have when it's all over. Also, watching less TV and deliberately avoiding/ ignoring all mention of Christmas until at least December 1st will help you actually appreciate it when it arrives.

-Keep busy. Nothing feeds depression like having nothing to do or to achieve. If you have nothing to keep you active, find something. Work on your cooking skills. Volunteer at your local homeless shelter. Learn to play the trumpet. It doesn't matter, as long as you feel you are getting something out of it.

-Go for long walks in the cold (even if you live in a city), to get that fantastic "coming back from the cold into a warm, cosy home" feeling when you return.

-Find yourself a local pub that contains a roaring log fire and an eccentric, talkative old man with a pipe and a wet dog. Have the old man tell you his rambling and improbable stories. [2]

-Finally, if you have the cash, cheat: Fly out somewhere hot and tropical. I know for a fact that Sri Lanka is utterly glorious at this time of year. From the US you might even be able to drive to a different season- you could go visit some of our south american shrapnellers.

[1] My local supermarkets are already selling Christmas mince pies. They have an expiry date in early november.

[2] If you find the pub but not the old man, then clearly there is a vacancy for you to become the old man. Grow some crazy whiskers, develop a taste for earthy old beers and pipe tobacco, and purchase a wet dog. Plant yourself firmly at the bar, invent some rambling and improbable stories, and inflict them upon any stranger who comes within range.

[Raging Deadstar]

dogscoff said:
-Keep busy. Nothing feeds depression like having nothing to do or to achieve. If you have nothing to keep you active, find something. Work on your cooking skills. Volunteer at your local homeless shelter. Learn to play the trumpet. It doesn't matter, as long as you feel you are getting something out of it.

I have to agree here! I've been a little down recently with all of my friends leaving for University and to parts unknown. I'm doing at least 10-15 hours of voluntary work a week now and it's helped, Really keeps you busy (which for me actually helps me get more than 4 hours of sleep a night), keeps your mind off things and as they say 'it's for a good cause.'

Of course, I'm starting work with the Royal British Legion in a couple of weeks doing the poppy appeal. It's going to be cold work so I'm debating about buying one of those large woolen russian hats with ear flaps and huge mittens!

dogscoff said:
[2] If you find the pub but not the old man, then clearly there is a vacancy for you to become the old man. Grow some crazy whiskers, develop a taste for earthy old beers and pipe tobacco, and purchase a wet dog. Plant yourself firmly at the bar, invent some rambling and improbable stories, and inflict them upon any stranger who comes within range.

That....has to be the coolest suggestion I have ever heard. Had me laughing for ages.

[dogscoff]

Raging Deadstar said:
It's going to be cold work so I'm debating about buying one of those large woolen russian hats with ear flaps

Yes, I have one. Thoroughly recmomended. Be sure to wear it properly though (ie with the ear flaps sticking out, so that you have the look of a permanently perplexed spaniel. )

For cool ear-flap-hattage, download the video for Groove Armada's "Superstylin'". A truly excellent song and video and hat.

[Iron Giant]

I suffer some horrible winter depression. Took some years to figure out why my mood went south each winter.

In addition to the good advice from others, I also found this device:

http://www.sleepwellbaby.com/index.a...PROD&ProdID=47

Can't get out of bed without it in the winter time.

I also recommend heavy cardio exercise. Like 20 - 25 miles a week of jogging.

[Wolfman77]

I used to love winter for the snow and the darkness as well. That was when I worked nights, and the sun was a cursed thing.

I still enjoy the snow, except when I have to dig my car out of the plowed up snowbank. But since last spring when I moved to working day shift, I find I enjoy the sunlight alot more. This will be my first winter working days, so it will be rather odd for a bit I'n sure.

I just thought my changes in attitude about winter were me getting older, so I try to find anything I can to enjoy about it, and ignore the rest (like the three month christmas season, 1 month = good, that's enough).

[El_Phil]

In this case I can advise AT to never visit Finland in Autumn. I did like the nights drawing in, not so much I wished away summers, but I liked the change. Then I spent September/November just outside Helsinki. That was depressingly bleak. After that I understood the high suicide rates and chronic alcohol problems in Scandanavia. It was so bad it made British weather seem cheerful.