Summer is
my absolute favorite season! I have no school (for a few weeks anyways), its
warm, I can spend a lot of time outside, and it just seems to make me
happier. Even though I work more in the
summer, my stress levels go way down. I
have more fun during the summer and I get to spend more time with friends
too. Summertime just seems to be filled
with endless adventures and possibilities.
When I
first came to Bloomington for school, I noticed that as the year went on and
winter got closer I got sadder and more stressed out. I just attributed it to not being adjusted
yet and because my bestie and I went home so much I tried to ignore it. My sophomore year, my bestie left Bloomington
and went back to our home town for school.
That was a really hard on me. It
was the first time I had ever been completely on my own and away from
home. I once again just attributed my
sadness and my stress level to not being adjusted to my new normal.
My junior
year was my absolute hardest year at IU.
It started off really well when I moved into my own apartment with
friends. Then school started and
everything became very stressful. I was
irresponsible with money and spent way too much. To fix this I got a job, which wasn’t really
a big deal. Then for some reason (I
still haven’t figured out what) that winter I just got super depressed. My roomies didn’t even want to be around
me. It was pretty hard to be honest. My parents and my friends were worried about
me. I was worried about me. I just didn’t know what to do to make myself
feel better. I didn’t feel like going to
class, so I wasn’t doing so good and that made me feel worse. I didn’t have any friends to really talk to
about how I was feeling either. I
couldn’t tell anyone what was wrong because I didn’t know. I just knew I was sad pretty much all of the
time. Then when spring came, things got
better. I started feeling happier and
wanting to do things. I went to class
more and everything got better.
This
year, my senior year, I was talking to my Momma around November and I just
remember telling her that I felt sad and didn’t know why. About a week later when I was talking to my
Momma again I realized that I was really only sad like that during the colder
months and that I also got more anxious.
Well my Momma and I decided it would be a good idea for me to go to the
doctor. I’d already previously went and
talked about my anxiety issues so I knew exactly what to expect. After talking to my doctor, she informed me
that I just had seasonal depression. As
soon as she said that I remember just wanting to slap my forehead and say
“Duh!!” I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t
realized this sooner. We figured out
what we thought would be best way to treat me.
After I started doing what my doctor said, which was take a pill once a
day, I started feeling better. I was
happier, less stressed, and got more sleep.
I felt wonderful.
I know a
lot of people are thinking “So what?”
I
just want people to know about seasonal depression.
If I would have known about it sooner or been
better informed about depression, I would have had an easier time during the
winter months.
And I know its summer
now, but it will be winter before you know it and if you start feeling sad for
no reason or if you realize that you have a similar story to mine, please go to
a doctor and talk to them.
It will help
so much and make life so much easier!!
