Depression Support Check-In: February 22 - 28, 2023
Sunlight
The Sun, "our" star, is the ultimate energy source for all life on Earth. Its energy comes in the form of light, part of which is the heat (as infrared light) that keeps our planet temperate in the vast cold Universe.
Sunlight has also a great influence on our mood. This is a well-known fact, confirmed by tons of scientific research.
Exposure to sunlight is a simple but powerful way to improve our mood.
Questions:
- What opportunities do you have to expose yourself daily to sunlight, and on weekends and holidays?
- How much does sunlight affect your mood?
- What could you do to bring more sunlight into your life?
- How have you been feeling these days?
A few articles (click the links):
What Are the Benefits of Sunlight? - Healthline
Why Sunlight Is So Good For You - Time magazine
Can Sunlight Help Depression? - PsychCentral
I look forward to your comments!
All the best!
Marcelo.
To receive check-in notifications, press HERE
Learn HERE how to join the Depression Support team. We welcome you with open arms!
Tagging taglist subscribers: [phantom-tagged DS taglist]
@HealingTalk
* What opportunities do you have to expose yourself daily to sunlight, and on weekends and holidays? Its February in the mid west so not many opportunities. Some times it's days without even seeing the sun.
* How much does sunlight affect your mood? Sunlight has a significant impact on my wellbeing.
* What could you do to bring more sunlight into your life? Lamps, its the brightness not the wave length that matters.
* How have you been feeling these days? Discouraged.
So sorry that you are struggling. Does sitting by a window help? @Gettingbettertoday
@HealingTalk
Hi, Marcelo,
- What opportunities do you have to expose yourself daily to sunlight, and on weekends and holidays? I have a lot but I haven't been taking the opportunities. I have been terribly stressed and barely able to get out of bed somedays. I am working very hard at improving my situation.
- How much does sunlight affect your mood? I love the sun but I am very pale with lots of moles, birthmarks, freckles, so I must be very careful about getting sun.
- What could you do to bring more sunlight into your life? I could buy a lizard lamp. I used to have them when I had lizards. They are just like the sun. But since I am unemployed, I am trying not to spend money unnecessarily.
- How have you been feeling these days? Very bad since I was fired. But I thought I had a lot of potential with apartments near the school that just accepted me. Unfortunately they want 3x the rent in income and I am just a little below that with my disability income. I applied to one today so now i wait.
You are working hard and you are going to find a path forward. I know that it is a challenge, but I am always impressed by how you get up and try again.
Keep telling us how things are going here. It will help. @purpleTree4652
@bestVase7265
Thank you so much, Vase. I can't stop. I don't want to stop. I'll work it out.
Ok, right now I have an elderly neighbor who is pestering me to help her find homes for the cats she feeds. I did all the work and called humane shelters and got all the information and the numbers and what to do when and where and contact names. I've told her what is going on in my life. I have told her that I don't want to talk and that I want to be alone. She has a family that can help her. But she keeps calling me every day, 2x. Today she and her son called me to do the work of finding shelter for the cats. Her son is in his 50s with a wife in her 50s. They have grown children, too. It only made me more upset today when I heard the message and heard the son in the background talking to her. Tomorrow I am leaving a mean note on her door. I wrote in the note that I don't want to be mean. But she and them are not hearing me and not getting it.
Plus today I found out that apartments in Tuscaloosa have an income requirement of 3x the rent. I only qualify for the cheapest apartment's that I am interested in. And today the apartment that I applied for charged me $150. I paid it even after I found out they made a mistake not listing the correct higher rent on their website. They didn't include utilities fees. That put me over the amount I can afford. So, I tried to change my application and take my cat off, because I found out--while applying--that they charge rent for a cat, too. The system wouldn't let me take my cat off. So I went ahead with the application. I called them about the fees they didn't include when they gave me a quote for the rent. But all they did was apologize for leaving fees off. So, they might deny me and I will have wasted $150.
The good news is that my SSA benefit verification letter quotes the rate without my Medicare part D charges. So there is another apartment I can apply to in Tuscaloosa. Unfortunately it is owned by the same company. So, I decided I'll call them and lie and say I am leaving my cat with a friend. Then when I am there and get a job, I will tell them i brought in a cat. *** them.
For the first apartment I was $25 under the income requirement. And they wouldn't make an exception. They told me I didn't qualify. So, now I am waiting to see if I wasted $150 or not.
I accepted the offer of admission with the Univ of Alabama. It is a good opportunity and I am not going to let the good opportunity go. The Univ of Missouri will have to impress me if they want my money to take classes there.
The good news is that I have an interview tomorrow and one on friday and another next thursday.
So if I have to stay in jax it won't be the end of the world. I feel like I could be happy in tuscaloosa though.
How are you doing? Did you have the operation?
@purpleTree4652 I admire your grit.
Also, I'm right below Jax myself. Florida has good things & drawbacks like everywhere else. I can't talk about the colleges & universities here since I haven't gone to one. (My formal education was a long time ago)
Re the elderly CCL* who lives next door to you: Remember that you must be your first priority always. Whenever someone asks for too much & interferes with your progress, sometimes you just have to tell that person to go take a long walk off a short pier/p*ss up a rope/harshly dismissive expression of your choice.
*CCL = Crazy Cat Lady. CCLs are an unrecognized bane of modern western society.
@slowdecline48
I guess you could call me a crazy cat lady. I disagree with you saying that we are a bane of modern intelligent people.
But thank you for saying that I have grit.
@purpleTree4652 You're not one, though. You have, what, one cat? That's fine; a lot of people keep a cat for company. Some people keep two of them. No big deal there. But if you kept a small army of them the way your neighbor does, or if you were so into feeding strays that you attracted feral cats with mange & other diseases to the neighborhood, exposing local pets & children to their microbes...that's CCL behavior.
It's one thing to own a pet or two; being obsessed is something else entirely.
I try to get outside for at least 10 minutes a day. I don't always succeed...sometimes chronic conditions keep me indoors. On days when I'm feeling up to it & don't have too much housework, I may be outside a great deal...
Don't forget that weather is always a factor. You usually can't get much sunlight when it's raining.
One more thing to remember: While there is no replacement for sunlight, if you must stay indoors a vitamin D supplement can help. But you should take it on a full stomach.
As for how I'm feeling these days...meh. As I said, chronic stuff. Life is never easy when your body was made in some second-rate factory in Shenzhen.
@slowdecline48
Hi Slowdecline!
Thank you for coming here to this check-in!
It's a great achievement that you formed the habit of staying outdoors for a while every day.
Being able to establish a healthy habit is a very valuable capability in itself.
The limitations some days are understandable and to be expected.
Taking advantage of the opportunities you have some days to stay outside for long means you value much the outdoors, and that's a very healthy attitude.
Great suggestion taking Vitamin D when we can't get sunlight. Vitamin D supplements have proven effective to improve our mood, and they are safe.
You are right that chronic health conditions are a hindrance. The merit is in playing the best we can with the cards we have been given.
In this respect, you seem to keep your attitude upright and moving forward anyway, and even with a sense of humor, as the fun pun on the Shenzhen factory shows. Congratulations on that!
Thank you again for coming here to share your thoughts and experiences, which are proper of an interesting person with a rich personality.
All the best!
Marcelo.
Questions:
- What opportunities do you have to expose yourself daily to sunlight, and on weekends and holidays?
- I'm not out in the sun too much in wintertime. I have to wait for spring, at least, before I can get outside.
- How much does sunlight affect your mood?
- I've never noticed any great difference in my mood or anything else caused by the sun.
- What could you do to bring more sunlight into your life?
- I'd have to get out more. The only thing that would do it would be to go for a walk through some nice scenery.
- How have you been feeling these days?
- I'm so-so, still hoping for a further breakthrough in my recovery.
@WharfRat
Hi WharfRat!
Thank you for coming here to this check-in!
If going for walks outside makes you feel better, put on some warm clothing and go for a walk as often as possible!
All places have some beauty if we look with eyes of appreciation. Even “A blade of grass is the journeywork of the stars”, as Walt Whitman said.
Walking more outside might help you get that breakthrough in your recovery that you wish for so much.
I wish you feel better soon.
All the best!
Marcelo.
All I can really say is how I’m feeling. Frustrated, depressed and numb. After a week where I was forcibly given hospitalization from the state, I was given an antidepressant cocktail they never thought to check if I could afford it. So now I’m back outside the hospital and I don’t see any of reasons to try anymore. Every day just gets a little worse than the previous. No affordable treatments, no free treatments, I don’t believe in getting better anymore. Maybe it’s possible, but I don’t see it happening without the money to make it happen. Having breakdowns at work gets me sent home and I lose my wages for the day. All the signs the universe is giving me is that I’m not welcome in this reality. Nothing I do changes my situation at all. I’m starting to just accept the futility of it.
@Server8462
Hi Server!
Thank you for coming here to this check-in!
I'm sorry to hear that you're feeling so frustrated, depressed, and numb, and that you're struggling with the cost of medication and treatment. It must be very challenging to feel like there are no affordable options available to you.
With all of this, you must be going through a really really tough time, and it's understandable to feel overwhelmed, discouraged and hopeless.
Under such a situation, it might be very hard for you to see the possibilities for change and improvement in your life.
Try to take care of yourself in the best way you can afford, even if it's with small things, like keeping a healthy routine, going for walks, spending time doing things you enjoy, etc. in this post we talk about getting more sunlight, which also helps to deal with depression. Small things like these, one on top of the other, might make a difference in how you feel.
Regarding the expensive medications they didn't check if you could afford, you could talk to a doctor to see if there are any more affordable alternatives available. Also, some pharmaceutical companies offer patient assistance programs to make discounts on meds, and a doctor should know about that.
You are right that your current situation is not permanent, and there is hope for improvement, that things might get better, if affordable ways of treatment and medication could be found, as well as other ways of support, like this one of 7 Cups.
Also following the practices suggested in good self-help books about Depression, like the Depression Workbook, or the Depression Sourcebook can be of help.
When you're feeling overwhelmed, come here to the chatrooms (the Depression Support chatroom is open 24/7 now, you can find it in the "Chat" - "Groups" area on your phone, or here in the PC: https://www.7cups.com/connect/groupChatrooms.php), or talk to a Listener. You might also use the crisis helplines as support. You can call them at any time to have a conversation, even if you are not in a severe crisis situation.
And I congratulate you and thank you for coming here to write about your situation in your post. It speaks volumes about your grit in the face of overwhelming challenges.
You are not alone in this. You are valuable and worthy of help and support. We care about you and want to support you in this.
Please keep coming and keep telling us how things are going.
I wish you that things get better in your life soon
Marcelo.
- What opportunities do you have to expose yourself daily to sunlight, and on weekends and holidays? When the sun is shining I go out and go get some sun
- How much does sunlight affect your mood? It helps
- What could you do to bring more sunlight into your life? Stand up earlier
- How have you been feeling these days? Not bad really, I try to make use of everything that can improve my mood. Exposure to sunlight this summer doubled the amount of vitamin D in my blood from severe malnourishment to ideal value. I was sunbathing (carefully)
@Seacu
Hi Seacu!
Thank you for coming here to this check-in!
You are a role model of "best practices" regarding intentional, conscious exposure to sunlight. You even check regularly your Vitamin D levels. That is amazing!
I am glad that it does help you, as well as other things you do, which results in feeling well these days.
This proactivity in taking care of yourself is a great thing in itself. It seems you have mastered the coping skills to deal with depression.
Congratulations on that!
Please keep sharing your experiences by posting often in this Community.
Thank you again for coming here to share your thoughts!
All the best!
Marcelo.
