As the clocks change, we have Halloween and Samhain, we reach the time of the dead and the time of darkness until 22 December (my birthday) when the days start to become longer again and the nights shorter.
For me this time presents challenges. I do not like the damp and the dark of the UK winter, I prefer to have bright, sunny days instead. Year on year in the gloomy weather I feel the same sense of gloom, sometimes even dread, will I ever see the sun and the warm again?
Some may say this is SAD (seasonal effective disorder), perhaps it is, but I sense a real sadness, where the heaviness and weight of my emotions is behind my eyes ready to cry for myself and for the world.
There is a metaphor here, that as I approach the impending death and darkness of winter, I sense my own annual death, time to prepare myself for life in the dark. And what will I find there, will I be alone? Will my beloved be with me? Will I die, ever to be reborn? How long will the dark night of the soul be? Will all ever be well again?
I offer this not as a depressive, but as a realist. I see our cycle of emotions linked to so many things, events that throw us off balance as human beings. Not forgetting those we work with in everyday life, sometimes as our clients, who are as frail and as prone to sadness as we. That our support of others through deep understanding and recognition of these darker emotions serves us all.
For me this time presents challenges. I do not like the damp and the dark of the UK winter, I prefer to have bright, sunny days instead. Year on year in the gloomy weather I feel the same sense of gloom, sometimes even dread, will I ever see the sun and the warm again?
Some may say this is SAD (seasonal effective disorder), perhaps it is, but I sense a real sadness, where the heaviness and weight of my emotions is behind my eyes ready to cry for myself and for the world.
There is a metaphor here, that as I approach the impending death and darkness of winter, I sense my own annual death, time to prepare myself for life in the dark. And what will I find there, will I be alone? Will my beloved be with me? Will I die, ever to be reborn? How long will the dark night of the soul be? Will all ever be well again?
I offer this not as a depressive, but as a realist. I see our cycle of emotions linked to so many things, events that throw us off balance as human beings. Not forgetting those we work with in everyday life, sometimes as our clients, who are as frail and as prone to sadness as we. That our support of others through deep understanding and recognition of these darker emotions serves us all.
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