S.A.D., Rain, and a Beautiful Cactus :)
I got out for a quick walk this morning, just before the rains hit...again! I've been having a tough time mentally with all the rain we've been having; it reminds me of the way I felt back in Vancouver before we left. There had been nearly 8 months of rain, the kind of rain that either downpours, stops and starts, but regardless, absolutely no sun. I'm sure that I suffer from S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder) and according to Wikipedia,
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder subset in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year exhibit depressive symptoms at the same time each year, most commonly in the winter.[1][2] People may sleep too much or have little energy.[3] The condition in the summer can include heightened anxiety.[4]
source
I'm normally pretty active, but I found myself not wanting to get out of bed, having low energy and no motivation to do anything really. At least here in Mexico, this rainy season is very short and the sun does come out in between the bouts of rain. It's a life saver for me! I do find myself starting something, losing interest very quickly (notice the time between my posts:), wanting to do something else, not knowing what to do, pacing from window to window until Brian says, "What are you doing?", to which I respond, "Nothing, why?". Always trying to help, he says, "What would you like to do?", and the poor guy gets this as an answer: "I don't know. Something. Nothing. I have no idea really."
Anyone else struggle with this? What do you find helps?
It is real, that I can tell you, because I know many roll their eyes when they hear about it. It's funny (no pun intended), but my last two posts have been comedy related on purpose because I was trying to amuse myself as much as all of you :) I know that laughter does really help me!
Anyway, today I saw this beautiful cactus, about to bloom, and I'd never seen one like it before in my life.
So beautiful! Here's a bit zoomed in...
And closer yet...
Does anyone know what these are?
I'll have to go back tomorrow to see whether it's in full bloom yet; I'm not sure if it's one that blooms only at night though. I'm curious what the blooms will look like, but regardless, it's a gentle reminder to me that the rain may be a good thing :)
Proud Member of :
I'm not sure if I struggle with that, though.. I have been struggling to get outside more recently due to being consumed with stuff on steemit, heh.. And.. I've found that looking at it like a game helps, to see going outside on an adventure as sort of a "power up" or a "healing spell" cause it is important to get out and about and be active and be in nature in my opinion, so..I dunno if that will help, but maybe if you try to turn it into a game and you try to look at it as a healing sort of activity. :) Good luck!
You might be onto something there buddy! Thank you so much, that's actually a good idea. I did get a good sleep and the sun is shining brightly today, so for now, no games needed :) I'm feeling back to normal!
That's a very unique looking cactus. On the bright side, all that rain brings out the greenery and flowers.
That's what I thought too; it literally stopped me in my tracks. I focused on "the bright side" as much as possible, because you are right, without the rain, we'd really have something to complain about.
Thank you so very much for stopping by @donkeypong; I appreciate it!
Love the cactus. Hope you get a shot of the blooms when they open. I lived in Minnesota for 8 years. The winters were so long. And it was gray in the morning when you left the house and gray when you came home. Just gray all day. Nature in Minnie tries to compensate with over the top green in the summer but it doesn't help in February. When I get depressed I try to put myself around people. May not be a cure but being alone is bad.
Good call on being solitary and alone @steven-patrick! I'm originally from Southern Ontario, just across the Detroit border actually, but I get the "gray days", that's for sure. Last night I got a good night's sleep, and woke to the sun shining today, so I'm all good again!
Thanks for the kind comment; it helped !!
Sarnia?
Near there. Around Windsor :)
That is an awesome picture of the cactus! I've never seen them blooming like that before.
The blues will pass and the sunshine will be back.
When my backyard is like this:
I think of this:
Your comment made me see that I have nothing to complain about! And the sun is shining today...I'm back:)
Enjoy that sunshine! Glad to see your happy self back. :)
Thanks @beeyou! It's hard to keep me down for too long!! I simply get bored of moping haha
So sorry to hear you're feeling a bit low at the moment @lynnecoyle1. I've been feeling a similar way every since I got back from Devon.
That describes it perfectly and it's not an unfamiliar place to find myself in although I don't suffer from SAD.
The thing that helps me the most when I feel like this is to remind myself that it will pass and not judging myself too harshly for it.
I hope you can find the space within yourself to be OK with it. 😊
I love your pictures of the cactus. It looks beautiful and I hope you get a picture of the full flower some time.
Take special care of yourself.
Sending you lots of love and hugs.
💙 💛 💜 💚
Yep, I'm not too hard on myself when I get like that. Thank you for the nice comment @gillianpearce ... it helped! I'm often overtired when I feel that way so I finally just crawled in bed, read my book, and woke up to sunshine today! It's all good again :)
I'm so happy to hear that @lynnecoyle1. It took me years and years to learn to not beat myself up when I felt a bit down.
That's so brilliant to hear! 💙 😁 💙
Sorry to hear you're feeling down @lynncoyle1!
SAD is a strange thing, but it's very real. One of my Humans literally has a "happy lamp" she turns on in her office during the winter months... it's calibrated to emulate sunshine, and it definitely does help. We live in the Pacific Northwest, btw.
I think what you have there is called a "Cereus" cactus (scroll down the page for photos): https://worldofsucculents.com/how-to-grow-and-care-for-cereus
Hope your skies are a little brighter soon!
=^..^=
Ahh the Pacific Northwest ... your human would totally understand then!! Thank you for the kind message :) I woke up to sunshine today and find my head space back to purrrrfection :)
Cactus ala-moon
House atoasis is what it used to be called. or just boardom. Some of us just call it being poor.
I got nada that's why I am making up crap. I could send you a clown face but realy don't feel like it
Man your depressing, good thing you added that flower thinggy
Time to take a pill
haha thanks for the laugh goofy :) Appreciate no clown face! I finally just went to bed lol
Thought that might bring a smile
I only got 2 hours last night. My sleep pattern is all messed up
I didn't say I had a good night's sleep though; I rarely do anymore, and that's ok too. The sun is shining today and all is good again! :) Thanks.
I've seen your commenting at weird times of the night because I too am normally up then as well!
LOl you stalker you
The brain doesn't function well at night after not sleeping and tired. I have deleted some comments before because I couldn't understand what I just wrote. LOL
Getting it from the brain to the keyboard just missfires
hahaha that's funny! That's when you know you should just shut 'er down!!
you would think but I just keep pounding away
going to lay down for awhile , but been saying that for the last hour
haha that's funny because I just closed my laptop, layed out on the hammock for a bit and here I am again :)
I know what you mean being grounded indoors by the rain. Perhaps just embrace it, close eyes and listen to the music it plays. Or, you know what they say, if you can't beat them, join them! Grab a poncho and a pair of flips flops and go for a walk. Hope the rain stops soon.
haha thanks @livinguktaiwan! Normally a walk in it is right up my alley! The sun is shining today though, so all is good again!
Thank you so much for the treat in my wallet this morning too!!
The conversation between you and Brian about what you wanted to do reminded me of this scene from the original animated Jungle Book movie :
hahaha that's awesome!!! I haven't seen that for ages :) Thanks Glen; exactly what the doctor ordered!
I am not sure where I saw this type of cactus in our country of if it is the same species. Curious what the flowers and color looks like. We have been having rain these past few days but too much is a bummer.
I'm curious too, but I haven't been back to see that one. I did notice the other day some beautiful pink flowers on a different cactus entirely, so perhaps they are all 'in season' so to speak.
Thank you for dropping by @watersnake101 :)