S.A.D.

November is my least favorite month. In recent years, it has been punctuated with more emotional upheaval than required in my already busy life. When the mind starts to wander and ends up on a road of those infamous 'what if's' and 'why's', the long periods of darkness in November seem foreboding and sinister.

Children are fantastic! They have no sense of time and definitely do not think about the future, their relationships with people, nor the problems that lie ahead. When I was a child, November could have been July, or any other month. As long as I had a few items and toys in hand, my mind was a fantasy book! I created worlds and imaginative figures that transformed my then present reality. And thus, the winter months quickly turned into Spring and then Summer, when I was able to carry my imaginative world outside.


My rambling has a point. S.A.D. No, I'm not just talking about the emotional state of being sad. S.A.D. is an acronym for Seasonal Affective Disorder, something I think I might suffer from slightly. Let me explain what I've come to understand about this 'disorder', if you really want to call it that.

Human beings thrive on light. Sunlight is important in everyday functioning and overall mental health. It regulates our "circadian rhythms" which is associated with our internal body clock. This body clock, in turn, affects our hormonal secretions and our sleep cycle. Lack of sunlight disrupts the regular functioning of our circadian rhythms which disrupts our sleep cycle and hormonal secretions and leads us to feel not energized, discontent, exhausted during the day even though we may have slept well at night, unmotivated, and in general, emotionally detached from people.

For me personally, many days during the winter months brings out all of these characteristics. You'd have to drag me out of bed in the mornings even though I slept 8 hours. Loneliness plagues me in the evenings even though I still live at home and am surrounded by 3 other family members. I have a hard time motivating myself to exercise or get more work done.

I have done much research to reverse the affects of S.A.D. Nutritionally, I have learned that eating fish and milk have helped the symptoms decrease as these foods contain Vitamin D and Omegas, both of which increase the hormones needed to augment productivity throughout the day as well as making you feel happy.

For those depressing evenings that seem to drag on forever, I have recently purchased a Light Therapy Lamp which so far has been working to improve my mood. It mimics a special frequency of sunlight which targets a specific receptor in your eye that is sensitive to this particular frequency. This in turn sends a message to your brain which resets your circadian rhythm and you begin to feel more rested, invigorated, and the feelings of loneliness disappear for longer periods of time (I like that part!). It even states that light therapy increases sexual drive which is always a plus!

A rather small device.

You can't directly look at the light as it is very bright!

I bought a lamp that also has a specific timer called "Sunrise". In the mornings, the lamp slowly turns on in a 30 minute time span, mimicking the sunrise. It takes another 30 minutes to turn off. This helps me mosey out of bed a lot faster. 

A very blue room!

 Overall though, I do know a lot of how I feel is 'mind over matter', a line my mother often relates to me. Also, if you smile and give a person a hug more than once throughout the day, the same hormones will be secreted making you happy and content.

I leave you with a older song called "Smile". This version sung by my favorite singer, Josh Groban:

Friendship

I'd like to take a minute and discuss what I feel is the true definition of friendship. Over my relatively short life, I have encountered many types of personalities that have different ideas of the definition of friendship. Here are my musings.

1. A person only has a few friends in their lifetime. In some cases, only as many as the amount of fingers on both hands.

2. An acquaintance is not the same as a friend. Acquaintances are people you know and can have a good conversation with from time to time, but aren't there to help you at your darkest times.

3. A friend is a person who will wake up or stay up with you at your most vulnerable moments and attempt to console you in their own unique way.

2 waterfalls, 2 friends merging together through life.

4. After being invited to a party/wedding/anniversary/functions in general that you do not want to go to alone, that friend will accompany you even though she/he may not want to go.

5. At the aforementioned series of events, that friend will take your glass of alcohol and pass you water when you've had too much to drink, or will take you home when you've fallen asleep on a couch in another person's home. All of this being done of course, without you asking.

6. A friend truly understands all your quirks and traits, good and especially the not so good and still accepts you regardless. Surprisingly, many people think they accept each other's quirks, but in reality, they try to avoid that person when the negative traits flare up or aren't all that supportive at all.

• i.e. excessive worrying. When a person worries too much about things that are out of his/her control, the result can be annoying and tedious for the friend enduring this trait. Yet, they still remain friends.

7. A friend remembers you. Simple statement yes, but think about precisely what this means. Remembering birthdays and milestones are important, but I have another example in mind.

• Knowing that you love going to a certain annual fundraiser that sells out quickly, a true friend asks you to sit at his/her table and goes out of his/her way to get the tickets instead of you pleading for them and getting an answer such as, "I don't have any tickets. The event is sold out" (when in fact it really isn't).

8. During your big milestones, birthdays, and important occasions, that friend will always be there celebrating with you.

9. I believe that your husband or wife should end up being your best friend.

10. At the root of friendship, there is love, respect, and trust- three traits I find the most important.