Hope & Comfort in the Midst of Autumn Angst by guest blogger Lori MacKenzie
“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease”(Genesis 8:22)
I love autumn! The fall season in New England has always meant apple-picking, pumpkin festivals, breathtaking foliage, and cool, crisp weather. Although it doesn’t officially start until later, I always associated the beginning of the school year as the start of fall. New outfits and blank notebooks held the promise of yet to be discovered adventures, opportunities, and friendships.
As a therapist, I’ve long been familiar with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a diagnosable subset of clinical depression with symptoms present only during winter months. While studying SAD, I discovered the phenomenon of ‘autumn anxiety’. Coined in 2005 by psychologist Gillian Scully, autumn anxiety is as much a part of fall for some people as pumpkin spice and apple cider. A combination of personal and environmental factors, it is marked by anticipatory dread, worry, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and feelings of pressure.
Summer ending and the school year resuming can bring tremendous disappointment and demands. The beauty of the season is often overshadowed by anticipating pressures of the holiday season and the looming reality of cold weather. Perhaps more significant is the impact the changing environment has on our physiology. As daily sunlight decreases, our serotonin levels fall faster than the leaves from the trees, especially if we start ‘hunkering down’ too soon. Impacting mood and sleep, less serotonin coincides with increased melatonin which is known to contribute to lethargy and inertia.
Warding off autumn anxiety can be fostered by delaying and minimizing your ‘hibernation’ tendencies. Start with:
1. Getting SUNSHINE - outdoors is ideal, or, use a light box:https://www.taotronics.com/products/miroco-cl003-uv-free-10000lux-therapy-lamp
2. MOVING - anything helps, even a short walk
3. SOCIALIZING & Serving Others
Build a list of 'your people’ for companionship and connection
Give of yourself and your time
In God’s Word, harvest time was not only a time of joy and celebration, it was also an appropriated time of giving. “….moreover, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the stranger.” (Leviticus 23:22).
Whether its fall due to the Earth's axial tilt or the circumstances or stage in your life, remember that although seasons come and go, God remains unchanged. “For I, the LORD, do not change.” Malachi 3:6a Scripture reveals that God intentionally designed seasons and communicates the wonderment of His creation and His plan of redemption through them.
When braving autumn anxiety, it helps to keep in mind the rich meaning and symbolism of the season. Despite the lovely pageantry and the joyful reaping of the harvest, it is also a time of transition involving the process of dying. Plants need shorter days and low temperatures to prepare for spring. As can be seen year after year, the death in winter is necessary to pave the way for new life in spring. Death is necessary for life. Ecclesiastes 3:1 declares, “There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens”
Autumn sets a stunning example in how dying and preparing for new life, evidenced in nature, in the seasons of our lives, and in God’s redemptive plan for mankind, has a beauty all its own. God’s blessings and steadfast grace exist in the midst of our own seasons of pain and rebirth.
