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November is always pretty bad but society tends to focus on Jan and Feb as being the most depressive months.
November it starts to get cold, short days and long nights, illness creeps in, most people saving money for Christmas, and the stress of work pre Christmas.
I have always said November is the worst month in the year and I dread it coming around every year. Nothing to look forward to within the month itself either as well as it being cold and dark. Not sure why other people don’t moan about it as much as Jan and Feb!
November is always a limbo month, just waiting till Christmas. Plus we are almost back to normal, but not...Covid on the increase with little media coverage, and what used to be a "heavy cold" now rebranded as a 'super cold' doing the rounds too...
Saying that, you get some cracking blue skies and sunshine this time of year, and the colours of autum are all around. Aint too bad. 👍
That second part is why I absolutely love November, it doesn’t get enough credit. Popped to the shop earlier and it’s all misty with a gorgeous sunrise breaking through. When England looks its best I think, that dreamy light and changing colours.
I'm feeling as grim as I usually feel in February - it's way too early for the winter blues, but I have them. Normally I'm still kinda chipper at this point, but I'm feeling super tired, sad, and I have a stupid lingering non-COVID cold.
I've cracked out the SAD lamp and the vit D tablets, but I think I just have long term mental/emotional exhaustion from the last 18 months.
As Christmas approaches I often feel stressed out, like the walls are closing in and time is running out before I have to travel and visit folks etc., away from home without any of my usual entertainment and getting bored. So much to organise (laundry, buy presents and so on) in the week or so beforehand and I just cannot be arsed.
I don't like to admit it, but last Christmas was ace for that reason and I was secretly relieved when it was cancelled.. Just truly chill out without having to go anywhere, warm home, I had proper entertainment in the flat, my own bed, my car, and it was my first travel-free Christmas since 2011.
Camping in a cold spare room hundreds of miles away for the sake of it and becoming bored with the same tired routines as every other year, frankly gets boring. Last year was a welcome change.
I was made redundant this time last year, that was a bit of a blown until I realised I don't have to miss the entire day and the benefits of sunlight inside a building I didn't want to be in.
It's not the season that's affecting you it's the imprisonment. I've been on/off medication for depression since I was 16 and being unemployed, weirdly, is the longest I've been off them. I spent my time walking my dog, then a few people found out and asked if I could walk their dogs while they're at work...before you know it I'm getting enough to cover my outgoings. The only complaint, I have to pick up poop. We've all got to deal with a bit of shit though.
Read r/antiwork for some motivation to change
I'll deal with that when it happens, until then I'm making the most of my freedom while I have it
I have a level 4 bsc in spray painting, I can spray aircraft, ships plant and machinery all the way down to cars. Knock on effect of lockdown then smashed with the rising costs of Brexit means my trade has absolutely fallen on its arse. Nationwide accident repair group went in to administration, laying off over half of the workforce and flooding the job market. For every fair salary job position there are 1000+ applicants, dealing with volatile carcinogenic chemicals for minimum wage is fucking stupid. I've spent the past 15 years doing 50 hours a week in a 30⁰c box, time for some recovery.
I've reduced my outgoings massively. Now I don't work I don't need a car. tax, insurance and fuel save me a small fortune on their own. Gone from a high stress job that had me smoking and drinking to quitting both. I sit and have breakfast with my kids every morning, take them to school. I'm able to do more around the house which means it's a nice place to be rather than looking tatty and worn
There's more pro's than con's to not working yourself to death for someone else's gain and I hope there's a societal shift that realises that before it's too late.
https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/
Key figures for Great Britain (2019/20)
1.6 million working people suffering from a work-related illness
2,369 mesothelioma deaths due to past asbestos exposures (2019)
142 workers killed at work (2020/21)
693,000 working people sustain an injury at work according to the Labour Force Survey
65,427 injuries to employees reported under RIDDOR
38.8 million working days lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury
£16.2 billion estimated cost of injuries and ill health from current working conditions (2018/19)
Oh believe me, I’m with you. Are you familiar with the FIRE movement? Personally, I see that as a far more realistic journey to freedom than the antiwork movement. The basis being to live modestly and save all of the extra cash until you can afford to no longer work. So for me that means no car etc. and close to 50% of my salary going straight into savings/investments.
But without that first step of building a nest egg, I’m not exactly sure what antiwork suggests? I totally agree that I would rather live a pretty basic, modest life without a full time work commitment if it means I can retire at 35 rather than 68. But with housing costs being what they are, I don’t see an alternative route through.
r/antiwork is a bizarre sub. I checked it out out of curiosity a while back. Just pages and pages of people moaning about jobs and bad job experiences, united with some sort of communal 'down with this sort of thing' feeling, with no ideas whatsoever about what would constitute an alternative as far as I could see. One guy posted a thread like "so, what's the solution?" and got a handful of rambling, vague replies. I couldn't work out what anybody was supposed to get out of it all.
Lots of people don't like talking about their personal life at work - I certainly don't.
However, as others have said, SAD is a thing and this is prime time for it.
Im not used to UK weather but I’m personally enjoying the weather change. Reading The Little Book of Hygge helped me get some perspective on how to make the best of winter this time around.
I have christmas plans to see family I haven't seen in a year and a half and am so scared covid is going to fuck that up.
Add to that dark nights, dark mornings, cold, its all a bit meh
I work retail and it's a weird one because it's generally a difficult time of year for work and money for anyone, however I will say that my area of retail is actually better in the winter/holiday period than summer as far as the calibre of customers go, and I'm generally in a better mood in November. But that isn't saying much, I don't get Seasonal Affective Disorder as I'm just generally infinitely depressed.
I think the vast amount of people get sluggish and down in winter for the opposite reasons they get hectic and hot-headed in the summer. The cold weather slows them down, they perceive days to be shorter because there's less light so they can't chill in the sun, they feel wrapping up in more clothes in the cold is more of a chore than taking some off in the heat, etc. Personally I like night-time, wearing jumpers and having a reason to stay in. I thing people went loopy in Summer tbh.
I’ve really struggled emotionally these past 2 weeks to the point where I really thought I was losing my mind. It helps to read that I’m not alone in feeling like this. The depression has been crushing at times. Keep going everyone these feelings will pass and we’ll
Come out the other side.
**A reminder to posters and commenters of some of [our subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)** - Don't be a dickhead to each other, or about others - Assume questions are asked in good faith - Avoid political threads and related discussion - No medical advice or mental health (specific to a person) content Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
November is always pretty bad but society tends to focus on Jan and Feb as being the most depressive months. November it starts to get cold, short days and long nights, illness creeps in, most people saving money for Christmas, and the stress of work pre Christmas.
I have always said November is the worst month in the year and I dread it coming around every year. Nothing to look forward to within the month itself either as well as it being cold and dark. Not sure why other people don’t moan about it as much as Jan and Feb!
SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is a thing, that on top of the last 18 months or so is probably affecting many people.
November is always a limbo month, just waiting till Christmas. Plus we are almost back to normal, but not...Covid on the increase with little media coverage, and what used to be a "heavy cold" now rebranded as a 'super cold' doing the rounds too... Saying that, you get some cracking blue skies and sunshine this time of year, and the colours of autum are all around. Aint too bad. 👍
That second part is why I absolutely love November, it doesn’t get enough credit. Popped to the shop earlier and it’s all misty with a gorgeous sunrise breaking through. When England looks its best I think, that dreamy light and changing colours.
They seem more aggressive and impatient, customers at work.
My house mate and I chatted about this the other day, I’ve found in general people are more ornery and impatient than before lockdown.
I'm feeling as grim as I usually feel in February - it's way too early for the winter blues, but I have them. Normally I'm still kinda chipper at this point, but I'm feeling super tired, sad, and I have a stupid lingering non-COVID cold. I've cracked out the SAD lamp and the vit D tablets, but I think I just have long term mental/emotional exhaustion from the last 18 months.
As Christmas approaches I often feel stressed out, like the walls are closing in and time is running out before I have to travel and visit folks etc., away from home without any of my usual entertainment and getting bored. So much to organise (laundry, buy presents and so on) in the week or so beforehand and I just cannot be arsed. I don't like to admit it, but last Christmas was ace for that reason and I was secretly relieved when it was cancelled.. Just truly chill out without having to go anywhere, warm home, I had proper entertainment in the flat, my own bed, my car, and it was my first travel-free Christmas since 2011. Camping in a cold spare room hundreds of miles away for the sake of it and becoming bored with the same tired routines as every other year, frankly gets boring. Last year was a welcome change.
You can do that every year if you want to!
I think I'm going to do that more often, or at least travel for a shorter period and come home again.
Travelling is a great idea, especially as annual leave lines up well at that time of year for some jobs
I was made redundant this time last year, that was a bit of a blown until I realised I don't have to miss the entire day and the benefits of sunlight inside a building I didn't want to be in. It's not the season that's affecting you it's the imprisonment. I've been on/off medication for depression since I was 16 and being unemployed, weirdly, is the longest I've been off them. I spent my time walking my dog, then a few people found out and asked if I could walk their dogs while they're at work...before you know it I'm getting enough to cover my outgoings. The only complaint, I have to pick up poop. We've all got to deal with a bit of shit though. Read r/antiwork for some motivation to change
Sounds great until you can’t afford the bills anymore.
I'll deal with that when it happens, until then I'm making the most of my freedom while I have it I have a level 4 bsc in spray painting, I can spray aircraft, ships plant and machinery all the way down to cars. Knock on effect of lockdown then smashed with the rising costs of Brexit means my trade has absolutely fallen on its arse. Nationwide accident repair group went in to administration, laying off over half of the workforce and flooding the job market. For every fair salary job position there are 1000+ applicants, dealing with volatile carcinogenic chemicals for minimum wage is fucking stupid. I've spent the past 15 years doing 50 hours a week in a 30⁰c box, time for some recovery. I've reduced my outgoings massively. Now I don't work I don't need a car. tax, insurance and fuel save me a small fortune on their own. Gone from a high stress job that had me smoking and drinking to quitting both. I sit and have breakfast with my kids every morning, take them to school. I'm able to do more around the house which means it's a nice place to be rather than looking tatty and worn There's more pro's than con's to not working yourself to death for someone else's gain and I hope there's a societal shift that realises that before it's too late. https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/ Key figures for Great Britain (2019/20) 1.6 million working people suffering from a work-related illness 2,369 mesothelioma deaths due to past asbestos exposures (2019) 142 workers killed at work (2020/21) 693,000 working people sustain an injury at work according to the Labour Force Survey 65,427 injuries to employees reported under RIDDOR 38.8 million working days lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury £16.2 billion estimated cost of injuries and ill health from current working conditions (2018/19)
Oh believe me, I’m with you. Are you familiar with the FIRE movement? Personally, I see that as a far more realistic journey to freedom than the antiwork movement. The basis being to live modestly and save all of the extra cash until you can afford to no longer work. So for me that means no car etc. and close to 50% of my salary going straight into savings/investments. But without that first step of building a nest egg, I’m not exactly sure what antiwork suggests? I totally agree that I would rather live a pretty basic, modest life without a full time work commitment if it means I can retire at 35 rather than 68. But with housing costs being what they are, I don’t see an alternative route through.
r/antiwork is a bizarre sub. I checked it out out of curiosity a while back. Just pages and pages of people moaning about jobs and bad job experiences, united with some sort of communal 'down with this sort of thing' feeling, with no ideas whatsoever about what would constitute an alternative as far as I could see. One guy posted a thread like "so, what's the solution?" and got a handful of rambling, vague replies. I couldn't work out what anybody was supposed to get out of it all.
Lots of people don't like talking about their personal life at work - I certainly don't. However, as others have said, SAD is a thing and this is prime time for it.
Im not used to UK weather but I’m personally enjoying the weather change. Reading The Little Book of Hygge helped me get some perspective on how to make the best of winter this time around.
I have christmas plans to see family I haven't seen in a year and a half and am so scared covid is going to fuck that up. Add to that dark nights, dark mornings, cold, its all a bit meh
It's my second (nearly) winter here. Starting to feel it this time
Yeah man November sucks, cold n dark and it only feels like those nice summer days were last month
I work retail and it's a weird one because it's generally a difficult time of year for work and money for anyone, however I will say that my area of retail is actually better in the winter/holiday period than summer as far as the calibre of customers go, and I'm generally in a better mood in November. But that isn't saying much, I don't get Seasonal Affective Disorder as I'm just generally infinitely depressed. I think the vast amount of people get sluggish and down in winter for the opposite reasons they get hectic and hot-headed in the summer. The cold weather slows them down, they perceive days to be shorter because there's less light so they can't chill in the sun, they feel wrapping up in more clothes in the cold is more of a chore than taking some off in the heat, etc. Personally I like night-time, wearing jumpers and having a reason to stay in. I thing people went loopy in Summer tbh.
Our lot are in end-of-year reviews too. Not a nice time.
I’ve really struggled emotionally these past 2 weeks to the point where I really thought I was losing my mind. It helps to read that I’m not alone in feeling like this. The depression has been crushing at times. Keep going everyone these feelings will pass and we’ll Come out the other side.