According to WebMD, symptoms of seasonal affective disorder include: sadness, moodiness, anxiety, loss of interest in usual activities, eating more, craving carbohydrates, weight gain and fatigue.

This winter, ¾ of the country has been affected by unusually cold temperatures and heavy snow fall during the darkest months of the year.

Symptoms of PMS and Perimenopause include mood swings, headaches, weight gain, bloating, hot flashes and fatigue.

 There are approximately 60 million women in the United States between the ages of 30 – 60.

Ruh-roh.  It’s the perfect storm.

The good news is we R.W.’s aren’t crazy.  There are apparently real reasons we are sad and cranky, looking pasty and fat, and feeling exhausted.  More good news: we aren’t alone.  We are all in this together.

The bad news:  There’s not a whole heck of a lot we can do about it.  Except wait for spring…and menopause.

Nearly every R.W. I have talked to lately has shared either that they are at the end of the rope of their patience with the winter weather, are feeling like whales from weight gain, complain of having no energy, or are just plain depressed.  Or, likely, all of the above.

There are plenty of perky “professionals” in the media with tips on how to deal with how we are feeling.  This morning I heard one say that “whatever we feel least like doing is what we should be doing.”  So, for example, get up and go exercise, or get dressed up and go to a party, or go out in that cold and enjoy frozen nature.  Sure, ok, easy to say.  Much easier to ignore it and go back to hiding under our blankets.

We are all finding our ways to cope.  Some are running away to vacations in Florida, which appears to be the only state right now not dealing with cold, ice, or floods.  Some are finding other R.W.’s to vent with, believing that misery loves company.  Some are ignoring all weather forecasts and wearing bright colors and sitting under sun lamps.  Whatever it takes, we’ll get there, together.

We will be setting our clocks ahead in a few days, so we’ll feel like we are getting more daylight in our day.  The other day I heard birds chirping.  The sun, when it does come out, is actually feeling warmer (if you can duck out of the wind and ignore the single digit temperatures). Technically, the first day of spring is in a couple of weeks.  That means actual spring has to follow…. at some point.

Before much longer, we will crawl back out into the world like a mama bear coming out of hibernation.  We will feel warmth once again.  We will begin to feel better about ourselves and get pep back in our steps.

Well, for at least 3 weeks of the month.  Because the PMS thing?   Yeah, that’s not changing any time soon.