Escape

Seasonal Depression is a serious thing.  I first heard about it at Dartmouth, when the long, cold, and cloudy winters often caused depression that resulted in not a small amount of transfers.  Of course, this confused me, because I loved winter.  The novelty of having snow consistently on the ground and face-biting cold never wore off in my 4 years there, or my next 2 winters in Madison.  While other Dartmouth students made every effort to avoid Hanover in the winter, I did the Hanover FSP my Junior winter, living on campus and working for a geology prof when I wasn't taking classes.

The solution to avoiding seasonal depression, I learned, was to embrace the season.  I was never effected because I went skiing at least twice a week and love the feeling of cold air in my lungs.  I thought Dartmouth looked beautiful in the winter and loved walking across campus.  It makes sense then that when I lived in Vail there was no issue with winter depression, everyone who was there was there by choice; they had all chosen to be ski bums and embrace the cold.

When I moved to Phoenix I discovered that seasonal depression isn't just about winter.  It can be about summer.  The consistent heat in Phoenix in oppressive.  It exhausts and dehydrates you.  I can't take a cold shower at my house because the pipes are too close to the surface and the water is hot.  Air conditioning is expensive, so home temperature is about finding the balance between cool enough to avoid going crazy while not going bankrupt.

Summer at New England, the perfect escape from summer at ASU

And for me at least, the bigger issue with summer oppression is that if you embrace it, you get heat stroke and die.  In the winter I can always put on a thicker coat and another fleece.  In the summer, once it's a sunny day above 110, there's not much you can do.  And while it's survivable to play ultimate or go running at dusk, the fact that it's still 105 out at 8 or 9pm can just get to you after a few weeks.

So that's why I addressed my problem by avoiding it all together.  I escape.  Between the end of ASU finals last May 1st and the beginning of class yesterday, there were 16 weeks.  I managed to get the hell out of Phoenix for 8 full weeks and 3 additional weekends:
  Nicaragua Volcano Tectonics Workshop - 2 weeks
  TA ASU Field Camp - 3 weeks
  Working Vacation to CO and OK - 2 weeks
  Vacation to New England - 1 week
  2 weekend ultimate tournaments and 1 hiking weekend in Flagstaff.

It's these trips that keep me happy and sane during the summer.  I can deal with pretty terrible heat as long as I know it's going away soon.  So while it may not get below 100 consistently until October, I could look forward to a trip to cooler climates coming in a week or two.  And if I'm looking forward to something, my motivation increases, and I still get a lot of work done, despite being out of town so much.  Or at least that's what I tell my parents and my advisor when they occasionally express concern.

50 degrees with 30 mph winds on Mount Moosilauke.  Sometimes escaping the heat can go too far.