It is almost a week since the official start of Spring, and today - March 26 - marks the beginning of British Summer Time (BST). In very many ways, both these things are very welcome indeed. Longer, lighter evenings and the promise of better weather are just what we need following what has felt like a brutal winter. Not that I want to tempt fate - April could well be cruelly waiting to dump a load of snow on us all. Our weather is nothing if not unpredictable.
Ultimately, though, it’s probably fair to say that the worst of the weather is over, and we can now look forward to higher temperatures, drinks in the garden and trips to the beach. For those of us who struggle with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), the Spring sunshine is a wonderful reprieve from the depths of winter gloom. As somebody who also struggles with chronic anxiety, however, it isn't all rosy.
‘Summer Anxiety’ is a very real condition, and affects more people than I thought. You see, for all the obvious feel good advantages of Summer, the season also throws up a number of bothersome, even intolerable, disadvantages.
Personally, I struggle with very high temperatures, and after last year’s record-breaking heatwave, I am not looking forward to more of the same this year. Don’t get me wrong; I hate the biting cold as much as anyone, but the roasting heat from the bright sun is a trigger of mine. It leads to obvious perspiration, which fires up my ‘hygiene OCD’, and just makes me feel clammy and uncomfortable.
I find wearing dark-coloured clothing during such times exacerbates the problem, but it is unquestionably better at disguising my flabby bits (!) than lighter, more breathable shades.
There’s another, perhaps more acute, problem when anxiety and Summer come together. If you have anxiety, you may not be as socially active as you’d like. You may find you spend disproportionate amounts of your time indoors. Both apply to me. Thus, it can be triggering to scroll Instagram and Facebook and be confronted with pictures of friends and family (seemingly) enjoying days out and evening summer parties. You end up comparing yourself to others, the resulting verdict invariably being that you’re not ‘doing Summer correctly’.
Social media, of course, only shows the highlights of a person’s life. Pictures are but a snapshot in time. Smiles can be artificial. One should not draw too many conclusions from scrolling through someone’s Instagram posts. I want to stress, categorically, that I am in no way a ‘party pooper’; it’s lovely to see everybody enjoying themselves, and I do not begrudge it for a second. But when you feel bad about yourself already, it can be easy to fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others and wishing you were making more of the nice weather.
Thank you for reading this post, and I’d love to know your thoughts on Summer. Can you relate to any of the above? Or do you welcome the season with open arms? Do feel free to comment below.
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