Are you still suffering from the cosmic hangover known as the time change?
Maybe you can’t sleep at night but can barely keep your eyes open during the day. Maybe you’re stumbling through the month like a melancholy robot — mostly upright, mildly conscious, but deeply unimpressed with existence.
And isn’t it cruelly ironic that exactly when we’re all miserable from light deprivation, the government decides to turn the lights off an hour early?
Thanks, folks. Really helpful.
Light and Happiness (a Love Story as Old as Humans)
Humans have a deep evolutionary connection with light — not metaphorical light, not spiritual light, not “good vibes” light — we’re talking about actual photons hitting your eyeballs. For centuries, nearly every culture has tried to cheer up the dark months by adding more light: bonfires, candles, lantern festivals, torches, flaming wheels, glowing turnips… you name it, someone set it on fire.
Even our pop songs know what’s up:
• You are the sunshine of my life.
• You light up my life.
• I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day.
• Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy.
But when there isn’t enough light?
We become depressed, anxious, sluggish, and mildly feral. We want to curl up under a quilt with a 40-pound bag of potato chips and hibernate until April.
In short:
Light = joy.
Dark = sadness.
This is not complicated.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): The Winter Blues With a Capital B
The official psychological name for the winter blues is Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD — which is honestly too accurate. It ranges from “a little down” to “I may never be cheerful again and also don’t touch me.”
Depending on which study you read, SAD affects anywhere from 5% of Americans to 10 million people, with symptoms like:
• chronic sadness
• sleep pattern chaos
• irritability
• carb cravings
• emotional flatness
• hiding from society like a depressed woodland creature
If you’ve ever had it, you know what a total beast it can be. While everyone else is decking halls and singing carols, you’re sitting at home thinking:
“Crap… three more months of this.”
I’ve had SAD kick my ass more than once, so I was very happy to discover that it’s now the subject of its own therapeutic specialty:
CBT-SAD — Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder.
And it’s not as complicated as it sounds.
The Three Pillars of Beating SAD (According to CBT-SAD)
1. Increase Your Light
This one feels obvious:
If darkness is the problem, light is the solution.
But not just any light.
You need a blast of sunrise-level brightness first thing in the morning — something that tells your brain:
“Hello, it’s daytime, stop making melatonin.”
Enter: the mood-enhancing light box.
These used to be huge contraptions you practically had to strap to your head. Now they’re about the size of a tablet, reasonably priced, and honestly kind of pleasant.
Light boxes work because they:
• mimic sunrise
• raise serotonin
• lower melatonin
• reset your circadian rhythm
• tell your brain to get out of bed and stop being a raccoon
This is the one I use because it’s inexpensive and has great reviews:
2. Vitamin D3 (Your Winter Sunshine Backup Plan)
We naturally get Vitamin D from sunshine — so of course, in winter, our levels tank. Add the fact that we’re bundled head-to-toe like sentient laundry bags, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for deficiency.
Low Vitamin D contributes to:
• low serotonin
• flat dopamine
• brain fog
• irritability
• low energy
• general “I’m over this” mood
Supplementing D3 helps stabilize:
• serotonin
• dopamine
• inflammation
• sleep-wake cycles
• mood regulation
And best of all: it’s cheap.
You can grab it on Amazon or at the pharmacy.
3. Reframing the Way You Think About Winter
This is where the cognitive part comes in.
My sister once pointed out that constantly referring to winter as “the dark times” might not be the healthiest mindset. Fair enough.
If we’ve had rough winters in the past, we tend to brace for them like emotional storm preppers:
• “I hate winter.”
• “I dread those long dark months.”
• “Wake me up when it’s spring.”
These thoughts become self-fulfilling prophecies.
CBT-SAD teaches us to rewire those expectations and rewrite our inner scripts — not with toxic positivity, but with seasonal intelligence.
For example:
• Winter is not the enemy — winter is the exhale.
• Early nights are invitations to gentler evenings.
• Light is scarce now, so I become intentional with it.
• Winter is not a shutdown — it’s a recalibration.
These reframes help your brain reinterpret winter as:
• restorative
• quiet
• intentional
• gentle
• rhythmic
Instead of something to dread, it becomes something to work with.
I’ve included 15 winter reframes as a free downloadable PDF that you can get by clicking here:
Final Thoughts (and a Pep Talk)
If SAD is hitting you hard, it’s worth finding a good therapist who understands seasonal depression. But even without professional help, these three pillars can make a huge difference.
Hopefully, this little article gives you a few ideas about how to get the Bah Humbug out of your brain and bring some light back into your winter.
And remember:
Light returns. It always returns.
Just the Tarot 