S.A.D.

I'm becoming increasingly convinced that I'm feeling SAD for the past few weeks. You may wonder if certain circumstances have perpetuated this present mood state of mine such as moving out of my beloved modern apartment and into my parents freezing cold basement guest room with little to no privacy and a weird smell coming from the bathroom cabinet. Or maybe I'm sad because I continue to remain unemployed with no callbacks or hope of starting a job anytime soon. Another reason you may think I'm sad would be that I've watched every season of 30 Rock and therefore am forced to re-watch (gasp!) episodes in an effort to relax and be a total bum. While all of the aforementioned reasons are legitimate and definitely reasons to bum me out, I actually believe those are not the core problem.

The real problem is that I believe I am suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (aka SAD).

According to Wikipedia (the most trusted source of information on the web), SAD is:

also known as winter depression or winter blues, is a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year, experience depressive symptoms in the winter or, less frequently, in the summer, spring or autumn, repeatedly, year after year... some people experience a serious mood change when the seasons change. They may sleep too much, have little energy, and may also feel depressed. Though symptoms can be severe, they usually clear up.

Hmmm...let's hash this out.

Reason # 1= people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year... I think we could agree that I fit this description excluding the seven months I was on the pill and was an emotional rollercoaster and bona fide b!@#$.

Reason #2= sleeping too much...I will (shamefully) admit that with the exception of Sunday mornings and days I've babysat recently, the times I tend to drag myself out of bed and stumble upstairs for a hot mug of coffee has been around noon.

Reason #3= little energy...On such days that I roll out of bed in the early afternoon, I still find myself needing increasing amounts of caffeine and desiring a mid-afternoon nap despite hours of couch-sitting, eating crap food, and drinking my sodas out of extra-long straws on the table next to me in an effort to avoid accidentally doing a sit-up when thirsty.

Are you convinced? I mean let's be real, how could you not be at this point?! My life is S.A.D. Where do I go from here? Do I wait out the next few miserably cold months and hope that things get better? OR do I try light therapy (a valid treatment option/validating excuse) and drive myself to the nearest tanning bed and increase my likelihood for skin cancer while gloriously frying my body? Honestly, I may go with the latter. Judge me. Do it. But if I have to look at more blue veins showing through my pale hands or at my ghostly face which has decided to break out about every week in adult acne I might throw up. Also, I need more energy and less sleep if I'm going to accomplish anything respectable in my life anymore. SO, if you see a little black Jetta speeding down Brughs Mill Road towards Marlys' Salon (where tanning is $2/session) get out of my way because no one wants to make a SAD girl a MAD girl.