Preparing for Battle (Summer Seasonal Affective Disorder)

No summer crash outs allowed!

The days get longer, the heat index increases and my seasonal affective disorder goes rampant.

I am not a summer person. I’ve lived in Arizona and Texas a majority of my life, and these states don’t necessarily scream idyllic, cinematic summer— you know, the ones you see in movies set in New England, filled with picnics, lake days, water balloon fights, and camping. When mid-June rolls around, that’s it. It’s hibernation mode for the next three months. I draw our blinds, prepare for $250+ electric bills, and only leave the house when 8:30pm rolls around. The heat in Texas hurts. It hurts physically (sunburn city), mentally, and financially (because what do you do in a flat, concrete jungle? shop, eat, and blast the A.C.).

The first two months of summer are bad, but still semi-bearable. It’s cool. Whatever.

But when August hits?

Oh dude, I feel ☻ BAD ☻.

Like, *~it’s hard to get out of bed and I’m panic spiraling about climate change every waking moment*~ depressed. It’s basically clockwork. When the clock (calendar?) strikes August 1st, my seasonal affective disorder takes its final evolution form like it’s Pokemon and I’m left wondering what the point of anything is.

Last August my SAD was rough, and as we hurdle towards yet another August in our lifetime of Augusts, I’ve been thinking more and more about how I can avoid what often feels like an inevitable annual slump. So, being the type-A, mental health warrior that I am, I put together some ideas that future me can refer back to when I crash out this August. I have a feeling a lot of people on here probably feel the same way I do about summers, so I figured I’d share. Perhaps we can even beat the SAD together.

How We’re Defeating Summer Depression

Virtual Volunteering

This may come as a shock, but doomscrolling about the state of the world as you’re locked inside your protective heat-proof pod (your dark bedroom) doesn’t actually fix the world. In fact, it’s making it worse — we need you to stay strong, soldier. I recently learned that there is such thing as VIRTUAL volunteer opportunities. And there’s a lot of them that need our support and time. I’ll drop a few below that we could check out together:

Be My Eyes

As a Be My Eyes volunteer, you can help out blind and low-vision people with their daily tasks through your phone! Blind and low-vision users can ask for help with tasks ranging from explaining the color of a shirt, to navigating unfamiliar surroundings, but no matter the case, your assistance allows them to lead more independent lives.

Love For Our Elders

Love For Our Elders is on a mission to alleviate social isolation among older adults through handwritten letters and intergenerational connections. This is the most wholesome excuse to buy cute washi tape, stationary, and lil stickers to fill your letters with.

Volunteer Match

You can find a virtual volunteering opportunity that fits best with your personal interests through Volunteer Match’s site. Explore hundreds of virtual volunteer opportunities in cause areas like health and medicine, education, and community building that you can do from a computer, from home, or any other preferred location.

Junk Journaling

Junk journaling is a meditative and wholesome creative activity that’s been gaining a lot of popularity recently! This past Sunday, I hopped on the bandwagon and met up with two friends to do my first ever unk journaling coffee shop date — I LOVED it. Cutting and collaging from my favorite magazine (thanks Frankie subscription!) and yapping up a storm was exactly what I needed. This is also a great excuse to explore new coffee shops in your city.

Growing an Herb Garden

When I think of summer, I think of fresh fruits, crisp salads, and vegetables bursting with color. The best summer appetizers and snacks aren’t complete without fresh herbs — basil, mint, dill, lavender, lemon balm, etc. etc. Full-fledged gardening isn’t always accessible to everyone (myself included - tiny apartment dweller here), but putting together a little herb garden is the next best thing. It may even inspire you to cook more! I had a picnic date with a friend a little over a year ago, and they introduced me to this delicious fruit salad recipe with a honey lime dressing, complete with lots of chopped mint. Taking care of another living organism AND eating well tend to be great depression busters. Just sayin’.

Playing Outside at Night

As a 16-year-old growing up in the suburbs of Dallas (cue “The Suburbs” x Arcade Fire), there wasn’t much for me to do during the summer. Both of my parents worked, 100-degree days kept me indoors, and the summers dragged on. I was essentially nocturnal during the summer, sleeping the boring, long days of summer away and frolicking at night — going to parks with friends, laying out in open fields, and night driving around in the city like a lost tourist. Summer nights have beautiful clear skies, illuminating fireflies, and a sweet calmness to them. It’s cinematic and I want to be the main character.

Lemonade Flights

Like a beer flight, but replace it with lemonade.

I’m talking blueberry lemonade, ginger lemonade, strawberry lemonade, passion fruit lemonade, lavender lemonade — perhaps even a mix of ALL those flavors lemonade?? Big Summer loves pushing lemonade onto us consumers, so maybe I’ll take it and run with it. Hell, I could even listen to Beyoncé’s Lemonade album in its entirety and really lean into it, I dunno.

Photo courtesy of Pinterest / photographer unknown

Living Room Forts

It’s absurd that the last time I made a living room fort was when I was a wee child. I have free will, an abundance of bed sheets, and an apartment I’m lucky to call my own, so why haven’t I made a Pinterest-worthy fort in my adult years?? The next time the temp reaches over 100, I’m snapping all my blinds shut and turning my living room into a palace that the hit children’s television show Out-of-the-Box would be envious of. Once the fort is constructed, I’ll crawl in and knock out my ever-growing watchlist on Letterboxd.

Ceramic tealight candle holder I made at my last pottery class

Taking a Class

Growing up, the Parks & Rec summer activities catalog was my summer itinerary. My parents enrolled me in swimming lessons, a fashion illustration class, a sound design and cinematography course at the city museum, and other programs that contributed to my development and worldview. Learning new things, getting out of the house, and flexing the creative piece of my brain is just as — if not more — important as a chronically burnt-out 30-year-old as it was when I was a developing 14-year-old. I hope to sign up for a class that catches my eye this summer to always have something to look forward to.

Lots of Reading

Reading in coffee shops, libraries, breweries, hammocks, near water, on city benches, in bed, out loud to my cats, at 2am, during weekday lunch breaks, everywhere and anytime. I have so many books that are screaming at me to escape into them.

Recent trip to the Smithsonian American Art Museum

Museum Dates

Museums are cold, quiet, and the perfect place to escape when you’re sad rotting on a 105-degree day. A lot of museums are free, so why don’t I go more often? I’d like to change that this summer.

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What about you guys? Anyone else planning their anti-SAD bucket list this season?
I wanna hear what’s on it~