S. A. D. – Seasonal Affective Disorder

I have heard of this, and often thought, oh yes living someplace that is overcast all of the time would near kill me – I cannot even stand to have the drapes closed – I have to have sunshine, I really truly have to have it. I get freaked out if we have two overcast days in a row. I am from Colorado – in fact I am 6th generation Coloradan – and we have over 300 days of sunshine per year NORMALLY.

Well - after I can’t count backwards how many storms, in just over a month – and we are somewhere around our 45th day of snow on the ground – with just a barely smattering of sunlight getting in (thankfully this weekend brought a little sunshine, and I managed to actually be out in it a bit) – I think I may be in need of therapy – which is apparently getting outside. Let’s just review, there is snow on the ground, the temperature hasn’t been above 30 except for a few days – and there’s no freakin sunshine OUTSIDE either. If there were sunshine OUTSIDE, I would open the drapes and bring it INSIDE. The other therapy is a “Light Box” – WTF – I live in Colorado – we have over 300 days of sunshine per year – I’m gonna do what with this stupid light box after this winter – I suppose I could sell it on eBay to some poor soul who is stuck in Seattle. Or there is “Travel to a Tropical Location” – I want to get my doctor to prescribe that and have my health insurance pay for it – but oh yeah, health insurance doesn’t even actually pay for emergency room visits – well just barely anyhow – so… I’m thinking the docs over at the Kaiser building, that are probably also about to commit some heinous act to try and overcome this gloom are not gonna say “Sure, here’s a ticket to Bermuda”

So… what am I gonna do about my S.A.D. – well I read this morning that some people have “reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder” – they get depressed when it is too sunny – so I had some unhealthy thoughts about things I would like to do to someone who actually thinks sunshine is depressing (that was very open minded wasn’t it) – and I also read this morning that mental health officials become concerned that people will drink heavily when they are affected – WHAT??? – Not that I don’t drink when it’s cold, but seriously, “who wants a COLD beer?” sounds a bit oxymoronic to me right now. Also, people might overeat – oh really, well considering that I’ve put on about a bazillion pounds since I quit smoking almost 1.5 yrs ago, that would be a great way to comfort myself – IF I FELT LIKE GOING TO THE FREAKIN STORE TO BUY FOOD!

Reverse S.A.D. indeed – get a grip, no one writes songs about how wonderfully comforting and fun a cold dark overcast gloomy assed day is – not even in country music!