I Hate January!

[mallory]

I hate January.  The holidays are over and there's just a long, gloomy winter to look forward to.  The weather in Utah is cold, snowy, overcast, and smoggy because the cold air traps the smog in the valley.  For some odd reason, nearly every time I've been really sick, sick enough to be hospitalized, it was in January.  I have to write all of my team at work's performance reviews, eight of them, in January. 

My sister and I joke about it, and count the days until January is over.  I always feel like if I can just make it until Valentines Day, everything will be fine.

Every other month is fine to me, it's just January I don't like.  Anybody else have a month or a season you don't like?  Or one you really do like?

[Black]

I hate January.  The holidays are over and there's just a long, gloomy winter to look forward to.  The weather in Utah is cold, snowy, overcast, and smoggy because the cold air traps the smog in the valley.  For some odd reason, nearly every time I've been really sick, sick enough to be hospitalized, it was in January.  I have to write all of my team at work's performance reviews, eight of them, in January. 

My sister and I joke about it, and count the days until January is over.  I always feel like if I can just make it until Valentines Day, everything will be fine.

Every other month is fine to me, it's just January I don't like.  Anybody else have a month or a season you don't like?  Or one you really do like?

I hate winter time.   I have S.A.D. and the shorter and overcast days make me feel awful, so I have to spend a lot of time working under my full spectrum light tubes.  Like you, once I make it through Jan, I start to feel better.

[goofynina]

Just want to send the both of you a little "Sunshine"   I hope things get better for you, especially in January so you can start looking forward to it instead of dreading it.   

[kitkatz]

I am working on Science Projects with the kids at school right now, so no time to be sad.  I am working hard getting these projects to be done.  Anyone want to come help me??


I am sick with a sinus infection caused by the wind and have meds to help it along.

[charee]

I hate January too but for the opposite reason to you I HATE THE HOT WEATHER 40 here today and no rain bring on WINTER can't wait....

[nextnoel]

I hate winter time.   I have S.A.D. and the shorter and overcast days make me feel awful, so I have to spend a lot of time working under my full spectrum light tubes.  Like you, once I make it through Jan, I start to feel better.

Me, too, except my problem period is Nov.-Feb.!  If it weren't for full spectrum lights, I couldn't survive.  And looking back, every bad decision I ever made in my life was made in Nov.- Feb., so now I am very cautious during that timeframe.  I just hunker down and wait for the short days to pass.

[Black]

I hate winter time.   I have S.A.D. and the shorter and overcast days make me feel awful, so I have to spend a lot of time working under my full spectrum light tubes.  Like you, once I make it through Jan, I start to feel better.

Me, too, except my problem period is Nov.-Feb.!  If it weren't for full spectrum lights, I couldn't survive.  And looking back, every bad decision I ever made in my life was made in Nov.- Feb., so now I am very cautious during that timeframe.  I just hunker down and wait for the short days to pass.

Oh yeah, I can relate!!!!  I used to really dread the fall, all of my life, even as a child.

When I moved from sunny FL to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in SC, which are frequently overcast and sometimes foggy until 10 or 11 AM, it was like living in a dungeon.  I wanted to hibernate from the start of Nov, and it really didn't end until March.  Thanks to the lights it's all bearable, but Jan is and has always been the worst.

As I look back, I now understand why so many of the jobs I had, I either worked outside during the day, or worked at night.  My favorite was 5PM to 1AM, so I could sleep a few hours, then right after daylight, put on my swimsuit, grab a big towel, and doze on the beach during the day -- those were the years I felt really good, and had a really good tan. 

One idiot doctor even diagnosed me as being bi-polar because I felt so much better in the spring and summer and couldn't understand why Lithium had no effect.  The depression in the fall and winter didn't seem to concern him. 

Did you buy a light box?  I could not see myself sitting in front of a light box for the length of time I would need.  My husband put up three 4 foot, 4 tube florescent fixtures in our house -- one over my computer and two in my kitchen, and two 12 foot, 2 tube fixtures in my grooming shop.  I use the GE Chroma 50 and leave them on all day.  Even so, I still dread the winter and look forward to spring.

[nextnoel]

Yep, I have a lightbox and a light visor.  I was in the NIH study in the 80's, when the lightbox was originally being tested, and the experimental model was HUGE; it was put together with parts from a Home Depot type store, and took 2 people to move.   I used to have to sit in front of it every morning for about 1 hour as part of the study (for 10 years!), and as the more modern versions were developed, it all got easier.  (My cat used to sit in front of the lights, too, and always looked totally blissed out.  I put my African violets in front of them just for the heck of it, and boy, did they love it!)  And of course, in those days, no one believed SAD existed, so things have come a long way.  The stories from other study participants were amazing - how they had unknowingly adapted their lives to dealing with a need for more light.  Thank God for progress!

[Black]

Yep, I have a lightbox and a light visor.  I was in the NIH study in the 80's, when the lightbox was originally being tested, and the experimental model was HUGE; it was put together with parts from a Home Depot type store, and took 2 people to move.   I used to have to sit in front of it every morning for about 1 hour as part of the study (for 10 years!), and as the more modern versions were developed, it all got easier.  (My cat used to sit in front of the lights, too, and always looked totally blissed out.  I put my African violets in front of them just for the heck of it, and boy, did they love it!)  And of course, in those days, no one believed SAD existed, so things have come a long way.  The stories from other study participants were amazing - how they had unknowingly adapted their lives to dealing with a need for more light.  Thank God for progress!

Wow!  That is really interesting.  Thank you for being in the study.  If not for you, my doc may not have known to suggest the light therapy.  BTW, my houseplants do grow very well -- never thought about the full spectrum light!! Duh 

[angela515]

What's S.A.D.?

[nextnoel]

Seasonal Affective Depression.  Means when there's not enough light (months with short days, living in a cave, whatever), you get depressed.  Has to do with having too much melatonin and not enough serotonin in the brain.  It's not felt by everyone to the same degree, but it can be extremely severe.  Full spectrum lights provide the right cue to the brain to get its chemicals straight, getting the patient back on track.

Theres lots on the net about this - you might enjoy browsing through some of it!

[angela515]

Thanks noel, that was insightful. I shall read more about it. 

[susie q]

I am solar driven also... we head out for some summer sun in 3 weeks... yipeeee... 

[BigSky]

About the only time winter bothers me is when we get them stretches of 20-30 below zero.

Just a few days ago it was 40 above and then it dropped overnight to  -15 below.

Suppose to be warming up though.   Only -1 below now and suppose to hit 10 above today.  Might have to go sun myself.

[Zach]

I used to go camping in January, so the cold doesn't really bother me.  Though I don't know about those temps in BigSky's neighborhood ... that may be too much for me.

[kitkatz]

We had snow in Southern California on Friday.  It was sleeting as I drove to work at 6:30a.m.  Then it turned into big puffy flakes coming down around 7:30a.m.  One of my students yelled "It's a blizzard!"  I had a good laugh.  These kids hardly ever get to see snow.  They just wanted in the classroom out of the cold.  We are a bunch of cold wimps out here! The snow melted pretty much as soon as it hit the ground.  My car was quite a site covered with sleet, ice, and snow outside the door to my classroom.  The sun was out by 12 noon and melted all signs of the snow away.  Weird cold weather for us!

[Ohio Buckeye]

yeah, January is a long dreary month.
We are getting rain, rain and more rain.
Glad tho it is not snow or sleet (yet).

[Sluff]

I'm in agreement, January sucks.

[mallory]

I love to go to Yellowstone, and I always look up the Old Faithful webcam to see what's going on.  I looked it up today and it said it was down due to the extreme cold temperatures, forty six degrees below zero.  Holy cow, I thought it was bad in Salt Lake, it was six degrees below zero last night.  I always said I'd like to live in West Yellowstone, Montana, but I'll have to have a lot of money so when it's that cold I can stay in the house!

[Bajanne]

You guys are making me feel SO BAD!!! January is my favourite month.  It is my birth month and it is the coldest month in the Caribbean!  This is when I feel so good.  Even when I am in temperate climates, I prefer winter.  Give me Fall and Winter, keep your Spring and Summer.

[mallory]

Okay, I looked up the Old Faithful link this morning and it is -67.9 degrees Fahrenheit!  The camera is working, here is the link:

http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/oldfaithfulcam.htm

I'd love to go to Yellowstone in the winter sometime, but I'm glad I'm not there today!

[Sluff]

You guys are making me feel SO BAD!!! January is my favourite month.  It is my birth month and it is the coldest month in the Caribbean!  This is when I feel so good.  Even when I am in temperate climates, I prefer winter.  Give me Fall and Winter, keep your Spring and Summer.

Hey Mallory you should post that link here also..http://ihatedialysis.com/forum/index.php?topic=396.0 just a thought.


I'm glad someone likes january because I was just getting ready to have it removed from the calendar. 

[mallory]

I went back to the website, and oooh, it's beautiful!  The temperature is now 26 degrees, that's practically warm compared to the sixty seven degrees below zero it was last night!  Here's a picture from just a few minutes ago:

[jbeany]

I hate the lack of sunshine this time of year, too.  I got the window seat in dialysis the other day, and I was basking like a cat in the little bit of sun that was shining on me.  I had to keep hollering at all the nurses and techs who kept trying to close the blinds for me to "get rid of the glare on my face."  Leave my sunshine alone, darn it!