My SAD symptoms usually start around late November. Strangely enough, said symptoms have already made their appearance this year (yes, in early October).

For about a week, I’ve felt sad and unmotivated during the hours following sunset. I worked through the negative feelings well, but I was confused as to why I was sad at all. The fact that I’ve been almost unbearably tired every day made things seem a lot more grave, especially when my fatigue brought about severely impaired vision.

It seems pretty obvious now that some premature Seasonal Affectiveness Disorder has come into the picture. No problem: I’ll spend as much time in the sun as I can, and I’ll use my lamp and various coping skills to fill in the gaps.

It feels good to know what’s going on—now I can cope accordingly. I’m glad that I realized what was going on, before my symptoms became really bad.

Unlike last year… I marked this goal accomplished, but I knew all along that I really hadn’t coped with SAD at all. I just didn’t care.