This is always the hardest part of the year for me. I know autumn weather is beautiful, and this autumn has been especially wonderful. However May signals cold weather for me and this is not pleasant. I love summer, early autumn and spring in Yass, but winter is always difficult.
Perhaps it’s the Swede in me, but the dark winter days are difficult. At this time of year, I’m just trying to make it to 21 June so that the days get longer, even if they get colder!
Others hate winter
I decided to google search to see if others hate this season as well. Yes, they do! I read about scraping ice off car windows and snow. Yes, I remember the couple winters I spent in Chicago with the cold wind. Yuk. I used to walk three blocks to work from the campus, and I had to put a scarf over my mouth so I could breathe without pain and I wore lots of clothes. Then I would warm up in front of (but not too close to) a big oil heater. We used to be happy when it snowed as the new white snow would cover the old grey snow.
I also remember a December when I spent 3 weeks in Sweden with my mother. It was the lead up to Christmas, so there were lots of Lucia celebrations, Christmas smorgasbords and Christmas markets. It was a lovely holiday, but those short days (light from about 10am until 3pm!) were really hard on me. The Swedes were praying for snow to light up their world and had white lights everywhere to cheer up their surroundings. Perhaps that’s what I need to do—put up my white Christmas light.
Winter Soltice
The Winter Soltice generally refers to the shortest day, and many cultures have customs and celebrations for this day in the year, usually with an open fire, feasting and dancing. Winter holidays are what is lacking in Australia. In the northern hemisphere there are lots of holidays which help to break up the winter season. Bring on a festival of lights!
SAD
The Mayo Clinic says,
“Seasonal affective disorder (also called SAD) is a type of depression that occurs at the same time every year. If you're like most people with seasonal affective disorder, your symptoms start in the fall and may continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody. Less often, seasonal affective disorder causes depression in the spring or early summer.”
The Mayo Clinic site suggests seeing a doctor if symptoms are severe, especially inability to sleep. However, they also list some home remedies
• Make your environment sunnier and brighter. I must admit that I do sit near windows and like to have lots of lights on in the winter.
• Get outside. I do love playing lizard in the sun and eating my lunch outside. I also enjoy walks when it’s sunny. This weekend I took two long walks and that showed me the beauty of the season.
• Exercise regularly. This sounds like very good advice.
What’s good about Winter?
There are some good things about winter: clear blue sky, log fires, hot chocolate, hearty soups, cashmere jumpers and a reason to lounge around and read a good book!
I guess things could be worse than winter in Yass, and besides this, it’s only about 5 weeks until the shortest day. After that we’re on a roll to better things coming...
Useful sites
http://www.flickr.com/groups/winterbites/discuss/98255/
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/seasonal-affective-disorder/ds00195
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice
Until next month...
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