my training as a seasonal warrior

The basics.

As I write this, I am 51, female, Canadian and have been dealing with stoopid effing seasonal affective since the early 80’s, maybe earlier. In hindsight it really kicked in with puberty. Good times, y’all, good times.

Regardless, I’m here to share all I’ve learned and am learning about this annoying affliction.

There are lots of skim the surface, ‘winter blues’ articles out there that mash SAD together with the winter low that most experience. They are definitely not the same thing and most of those publications made me more depressed and doubting my own reality. They made me think, I was over reacting, being a wuss, and not applying myself to overcome.
Grateful for a strong curiosity, a library card and dial up internet, I started doing research. Hit and miss though, didn’t want to think about it in the summer or early fall, and by mid-December, I didn’t care about anything and motivation was no where to be found.

Early 2002 I had the opportunity to go to Portugal in mid January - three weeks, with no snow, no cold, longer days and ocean breezes. SAD had seemed to have a been minimized in the equation. So I returned to Southwestern Ontario Feb 1st, Feb 2nd I started applying for jobs in all the sunny island locations, with the rule I go to the first warm place that offered. Early June I moved to Bermuda.

It was great! SAD was at bay, a little blip in January, but nothing like the 3 -4 months of personality switch I had been experiencing since high school. That lasted about 5 years and then for some, not well thought out, reason, I moved back to Canada.
That first winter back was BAD. I had forgotten the ‘flip’ I hated where I was, what I was doing and the decision I had made. By the time March arrived, I was empty, forty pounds heavier, perspective of an empty glass but…I knew, had known winters with minimal affliction.
I would make the next year, not so hard on me (and those around me)…

Stay tuned… more soon.