S.A.D.
Seasonal affective disorder is a form of depression which mostly occurs to people in wintertime. The long, cold days without any sun, can pose a problem for some people as they don’t get enough vitamin D. Some people though, including me, get it in the summertime. Some people believe it is due to an overexposure to the sun as it influences your melatonin production. Other people believe it is because of an increase of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), because the summertime is supposed to be a fun time. No matter the cause; here I’ll tell you my experience and how I overcame it!
S.A.D. It’s funny, cause it makes you sad!
My experience with SAD can be described as an intense form of loneliness and nihilism. It felt as if there was no end to my suffering and I had no one around to help me. I felt alone in my pain and as if no one understood me. There was an increase of this during summertime, because I felt as if I had no one to do fun things with, go on holidays with or have that summer romance with.
In my particular experience, I already was suffering from depression, it only got enhanced during the summer. Now as I already mentioned, I believe my SAD got triggered due to FOMO. I am not quite sure about the overexposure of sun and my melatonin production, I was never tested on this, but I do know that even today, I am a lot happier during winter.
No matter the true reason behind it, it is a real thing! So if you also have depressive symptoms in a particular season or your symptoms get worse, know that you are not crazy! It is a real thing people are suffering from. But also know, that you can overcome it.
To be honest, I am an avid believer of being able to influence your entire reality with your mind, even if doctors and prognoses say otherwise. There are a lot of people who back this and a lot of studies supporting this as well. Just take a look at the studies done by: Dr. Joe Dispenza, Dr. Bruce Lipton and Gregg Braden just to name a few. So even if certain studies say you experience S.A.D. Because of an overexposure to sun or a lack of vitamin D, the moment you cling to this truth is the moment you lose control.
Do you want to feel sad? Do you want to feel sad during summer or winter? Do you even want to feel depressed at all? I think your answer is: no. So why give your S.A.D. Another reason to exist? And I don’t mean when people who don’t know anything about depression say to a depressed person: ‘‘just try to be happy! I’m sure it can’t be that bad!’’ Believe me, I’ve been where you might be now and I know it isn’t as simple as that. But what I am saying is that even if the scientific evidence says one thing, at the end of the day it is always you who is in control, even if it doesn’t feel like it.
Because every single moment, even if it’s done unconsciously, you make a decision. You make a decision of how you are feeling. You decide whether you’re happy or not even if it really feels you are out of control. You are never out of control you see, you just believe that you are.
Your S.A.D. Is controlled by what unfortunately controls everything in a lot of humans: the ego. The ego is the one feeding you negative thoughts and it is you who chooses to identify with them (this also happens unconsciously). Only an aware person can be aware of this because they separated their true selves (their intuitive selves) from their false selves (ego identity). Feeling good feels good because you’re supposed to feel good. The true you is positive, always, but your focus just has been on the negative for so long that you are now out of touch with it.
But, it is never too late to make that change! I have overcome depression, anxiety and S.A.D. I did it without any drugs and no, it wasn’t easy, but anything worthwhile on this earth isn’t easy. The only thing, the real shortcut out of all of this starts with you separating yourself from your thoughts. Just think about this quote:
“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.”
Someone in your family or a pet could die, you could be robbed, you could be beaten or worse. But if you really think about it, it is always your thoughts that cause the unhappiness. Why do I give such harsh examples? It makes you realize that firstly: your life probably isn’t that bad and secondly: only with such harsh examples am I able to illustrate this picture. If I were to give lesser harsh examples your mind would automatically say: well, if someone were to die, that is when I will truly be unhappy and I have the right to feel that way.
Well, in my humble opinion: you probably get really sad when someone dies because it is firstly: taught to you that it is a sad thing. We see it in movies, hear it from others and it is a subject that isn’t talked about. Secondly: you don’t know what happens after you die so it is seen as this big ending which, how would you even know? You’ve never experienced it!
Point I’m trying to make: stop giving your S.A.D. Or depression the fuel (your focus) it doesn’t need. If you feel especially sad and lonely during the summer like I have, you will notice it is an enticing feeling to give in to. It makes you feel sorry for yourself that you’re in this position. I know that it seems more difficult trying to not feel this way, but know that it isn’t. When you practice a constant shift in your focus and you’ve built some momentum, you’ll start to see that it isn’t that difficult at all, it is quite easy! And not only will you have overcome your S.A.D.ness, with this, you will have overcome your ego. The one who makes the true you unhappy, the true you who is always happy.
Thank you so much for reading! 💕
- Juliet
