The Perennial Sam

What time of day or year do you find yourself most succeptible to depression?

I know that for some people the grey winter months are the worst (ie. for those with Seasonal Affective Disorder).  For others it may be a particular time of year that causes you to remember something you’d rather forget. 

Mornings aren’t good for me.  Even if I went to bed in a good mood, I wake up with an “impending sense of doom” - and I don’t mean the morning grouchies.  Some days it is only a mild feeling, at other times it’s impossible to ignore and it takes me a good while to get out of bed.  One thing that helps me to get up is the knowledge that my rabbits need to be fed.  And their cage is in the bedroom, so often there are two pitiful faces staring at me by the time I wake up! 

For some reason the summer tends to be when I experience my worst bouts with depression.  In June and July it feels like there’s a dark thing looming over me that I can keep at bay; but if I haven’t done a good enough job of staving it off, by August it’s really difficult to function.  Knowing this is a double-edged sword…I try to be prepared every year and if worse comes to worse, find something to do in August that I can look forward to/distract myself with most of the month (like going to visit family in the Maritimes).  At the same time I wonder how much my worrying about the approaching time makes for a more dark and gloomy Sam.  This is partly why I’ve been making a point of being more physically active lately.

For some positivity, why don’t we share our favourite/best time of year as well.  I usually feel most positive from late January through May.  Sometimes I like the Fall too.