It’s not often that I'm vulnerable over here, but alas, you've caught me on one of those days, August 2nd- to be specific. The sun is blazing, I’m in my best friend's back garden watching her dog- a yellow Labrador. My dog is running around with her. I’m sipping my earl grey tea, whilst someone on the street is mowing their lawns. I can hear the pigeons singing that ‘coo-coo-co-cucko’ song. White butterflies are bobbing around frivolously, and perhaps best of all, I’m soaking in the rays. It’s only 20 degrees and the wind is fairly brisk, but I’m feeling weightless listening to Taylor Swift's ‘Folklore’ album.
What could ruin this?
The looming thought of autumn, that’s what.
The cold, wet, dull weather rears its ugly head. Each year, we find ourselves asking the very same question: Where did the summer go?
Now, I’m no therapist. As I've said before, I’m just a journalist who thinks a lot about the world. I'm no expert in any of the topics I discuss here at Mindful Times. I’m a writer, that's my bag.
So, if you're feeling like me: hi, welcome. Let’s work through this together, preemptively, so the cold-season-scaries can’t catch us!
According to Forth With Life, over 50% of adults in the UK have a vitamin D deficiency. Why?
Because the sun hates us, that’s why.
I’m kidding!
If you live in the UK, you will likely share the longing for sun and emotional stability from the weather. Unfortunately for us, you never know what mood Mother Nature is going to wake up in, she could really use some therapy… But who are we to judge her?
On that note, Nuffield Health says that the NHS estimates around 2 million people in this country experience some level of seasonal depression every year- and that honestly doesn’t surprise me.
For me, and almost every other Brit I know, our lives are measured in summers (Queue ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ titles). That’s when we spend the most money: days out, travel, shopping trips and holidays. I mean, who’s using their time off work in winter?
Not me.
For the record, no judgement if you’re a big winter fan! I used to live for the fall… but in the words of Elphaba Thropp, ‘something has changed within me… something is not the same’…
Sorry- musical theatre fan…
I digress, I mean, we do have Christmas, but that’s only one day- if you don’t celebrate it, what is there to look forward to? Our bills increasing? Buying winter tyres? The days being so short?
I’ve done what I do best, research, and compiled 10 ways you can help yourself ward off those pre-autumn blues. Let’s make them pink.
Kaitlyn’s guide to thriving and surviving this fall:
- Take Vitamin D supplements. Speak to your doctor of course, but if I were you, I’d definitely look into this.
- Forest bathing, even in the cold! (More on this coming soon, so keep an eye out!)
- Keep your environment bright. Decorate your home seasonally, make it fun! Literally gaslight yourself into thinking ‘hey, I LOVE today’
- Rewatch all cosy essentials: Harry Potter, Vampire Diaries, Gilmore Girls, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Charmed, When Harry Met Sally, and of course, the king of all cosy movies… The Twilight Saga.
- Social contact- It can be all too easy to lock yourself away and only go out if you have to, but try once or twice a week meeting a friend for a pumpkin spice latte, go to Pilates, do something to get you around other human beings.
- Baking! I’m not a great baker, but I don’t have to be! Even the most basic of sweet treats is great to make in autumn because everything’s spiced, pumpkin cinnamon and chai, embrace those seasonal flavours and scents.
- Adopt a ‘hibernation’ hour: get cozy, make it dark, sit in candlelight and embrace the season, don’t fight it. Rebel against winter burnout!
- Host cozy dinners: invite your friends round, make a stew, a pie, some kind of winter warmer. And hey, a little bottle of wine might be nice?
- Create a winter playlist, put your headphones on and pretend you’re Lorelai Gilmore.
- Practice ‘sunrise sitting’: even if the sun is hidden by the grey clouds, set up a chair, grab a coffee and just sit quietly, welcome the day.
The main take-away from this is: take it easy. It’s not in our biology to be so busy in winter. It’s when the world slows down, so we should slow down with it. In an ideal world we would all have winter off…
This is all very surface-level. So if you’re really struggling, we at Mindful Times encourage you to seek professional support.
Catching the last of my summer tan,
Logging out,
Kaitlyn.