Come into the light

I used to love the fall. The leaves changing colors, the cool crisp weather, the beautiful sunsets. Until the late 1990s. October 1996 was my first really bad fall. I got sick, and found out that I had a condition rather than just the flu, something that would plague me for the rest of my life (not life threatening but more along the constantly annoying type of illness that could flare up from time to time). The next few falls were ok, until 1999 when my mother passed away from a battle with colon cancer. Not to mention 2 years later September 11, 2001. Followed by October 2002, the year that I was diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety brought on by witnessing the second plane full of terrorists crash into the South Tower of the World Trade Center.

Sigh, is it any wonder that I don't like the fall?

It was beginning to rise to the level of more than annoying when I decided to try light therapy. So each morning I wake up and sit by a light box for 15 min and answer e-mail or just read. It is like taking uppers (I know as I have had some experience with uppers as a treatment for anxiety-- go figure). It is great, and today for the first time (I have been doing this for about a week) I felt energized and happy all day.

I think that the light box is pretty amazing, and I hope I continue to have such great results.

I suppose I could just move somewhere that they have more than 8 hours of sunlight in the winter, but I do love snow.