Changing seasons

[Geoo98]

Does anyone else find themselves really uncomfortable when seasons change? I don't know why but the thought that it'll be winter soon and it'll be all Christmassy makes me nervous. I love Christmas, it might be that it reminds me of past winters, I just don't like the change of that it can be a lonely time of year. I really don't know. I'm just so nervous. I was the same when it was approaching summer too because college was over. Is this common?

 

[King_Oni]

Guess it has to do with anticipating change more than anything else. You've grown so accustomed to it, that when the summer hits, school ends and when days get shorter, christmas is soon to happen.

Don't know if it's common that specific. Change can be a bit of an issue for many on the spectrum but quite a few do better when they know what's coming up (at least, that's my experience)

 

[Questella]

When it starts to get warm I'm not happy because I know I can't be out in the summer heat without getting sick, so I'm excited about it finally not being so hot. I always spend all of June, July, and August pretty much holed up.

 

[23andaspie]

I may be an outlier here, but I do believe my psychological state is influenced by weather to a noticeable degree.
For example, on mornings with overcast skies, I tend to have much greater time getting out of bed than on mornings that when it is extremely sunny (i.e, in the summertime). This happens even though most mornings I am unaware of the weather. It doesn't seem outrageous to me given the role of sunlight plays in all forms of life.

I am a bit sleepier in the winter; I have a slight tendency to have more depressed feelings in the winter, like I'm understimulated or something, whereas in the summer, I tend to experience more anxious feelings, like a mild overstimulation. Too many sunny days in a row and I feel drained out; too many cloudy, dark days and I feel empty. When the weather changes dramatically, I feel a bit off, which sometimes manifests as a minor headache.

As for the transition towards the holiday season, there's actually a well-studied phenomenon regarding the observed increased rates of suicides during the holiday season. Why so, when the holidays are supposed to be a positive time of the year? The theory behind those numbers is that that people who experience anxiety, depression, and loneliness (such as many of us here) experience them to heightened degree during the holidays (maybe because we feel left out in family settings?).

To cite an example that doesn't just include me -- a few years ago during a June I travelled to Alaska with two female friends, one who was also an Aspie that I meet through a group. As you may be aware, or not be, regions on the globe to the far north experience (near-)eternal daylight during their summers, complemented by their (near-)eternal darkness in the winters. Glancing outside our hotel rooms, it even at 2am it seemed to only be twilight, with the sun rising very early. After a week of that, and then returning back to normal levels of daylight in the lower 48, the three of us independently noticed feeling disoriented and slightly dysphoric immediately after that trip, which eventually went away after a week or so.

 

[Flinty]

Only at the start of summer because I hope that I can survive it.

 

[AsheSkyler]

Only with spring and summer. Spring is nasty, yucky, muddy, rainy, stormy, tornadoes at their worst, and it starts getting hot. Summer is just miserable all around because of the heat, drought, and storms when it does rain. When autumn starts to come around, I get really excited because chilly weather, good food, and being able to actually sleep at night is right around the corner.

 

[Progster]

I may be an outlier here, but I do believe my psychological state is influenced by weather to a noticeable degree.
For example, on mornings with overcast skies, I tend to have much greater time getting out of bed than on mornings that when it is extremely sunny (i.e, in the summertime). This happens even though most mornings I am unaware of the weather. It doesn't seem outrageous to me given the role of sunlight plays in all forms of life.

I am a bit sleepier in the winter; I have a slight tendency to have more depressed feelings in the winter, like I'm understimulated or something, whereas in the summer, I tend to experience more anxious feelings, like a mild overstimulation. Too many sunny days in a row and I feel drained out; too many cloudy, dark days and I feel empty. When the weather changes dramatically, I feel a bit off, which sometimes manifests as a minor headache.

This is how it is for me, too. The most difficult transition is from summer to winter. Both heat and cold can make me feel uncomfortable, but I'm very sensitive to the cold, and when it's cold, I can never feel comfortable. I can't afford to pay for heating, so in Winter I sit with about 4 layers of clothing on me, and that's not comfortable, either. Also, the weather affects my mood and I feel more depressed on dull, rainy or cloudy days.