I Really Really Need A Raincoat

I've been feeling the winter coming, not so much in the literal sense, though that is true. No, I have been feeling it in my thoughts and ideas. Everything is getting colder in my head, darker and often times more depressed. The winter casts a heavy malaise over my thoughts, it creeps in throughout the fall, gets all cozy and sticks around for a few months.

People tell me I should go tanning in the winter, they say it'll help me, they say that I probably have Seasonal Affective Disorder. First off, I absolutely hate that, I mean really, that is a thing? S.A.D. Even the acronym kind of infuriates me. Okay, sure people get more depressed in the winter, but since when do we get to call that a disorder? I don't know, I guess I am just tired of everything in life slowly becoming something wrong with people. Nobody talked about this stuff when I was a kid, hell, half of the "disorders" and "problems" people are having to medicate for and deal with don't even seem like they existed ten years ago. Sure, maybe they did, but we didn't have names for them, we didn't have medication for them, we just lived our lives and took the lumps as they came. Now, everything can be fixed. Fixed! As if it were broken to feel the natural range of human emotion.

Don't get me wrong, there are some people with real problems that really need medications and help to get through things, but seriously things have kind of gotten out of hand. Would going tanning in the winter perhaps make me feel a little better? Sure, it probably would, but so what? There are a whole slew of things that would make me feel better in the winter and just as many that would make me feel sad. Isn't that normal? Isn't that life? That isn't a disorder, it is existence.

I guess I am just tired of excuses. If you are sad and you don't want to be, take steps toward being happier. I have had my fair share of depression, believe you me, in fact, this blog is kind of a testament to it, but it like everything else has ebbs and flows. Sometimes I even want to be sad and frankly there is nothing wrong with that. However, if you are always sad or upset or whatever and you don't want to be, try changing your mindset or your routine. Don't just blame something else and rely on medication or a doctor to fix it. Be the master of your own brain, or at the very least try to be.

If that doesn't work, then go ahead and consider getting help, it is true some people really do need it. Most important though, you have to remember that life is meant to be felt on all levels. The happiness would be nothing without the sadness and turmoil. Joy feels hollow without grief. The ebb and flow of life should be enjoyed, not suppressed. Feel! Whatever it is you feel, feel it! Then come out the other side with a greater perspective or appreciation for the wonderful ride of feeling.

Tonight I am sad, but so what? I will let myself be sad and tomorrow will bring what it brings.