418. Seasonal Depression

A college student struggling with seasonal depression shares what helps her get out of bed on the dark mornings in winter.

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

Nora: I’m Nora McInerny and it’s going to be okay. I lived in Minnesota for many years, most of, most of my life. And I loved many things about Minnesota. I liked all the lakes. I like the accents. I like the Mall of America. I like a lot of the people, but one thing I hated was the seasonal depression that just boom dropped on me like a ton of bricks every fall.

It is one of the reasons I now live in Phoenix where I am staring at a bright blue sky. Going outside when it’s cold and dark and dry and snowy and cold and dark and cold and dark is so hard. And that’s where Lauren, and that’s where Lauren started her email to us. 

I struggle with seasonal depression. This time of year, [00:01:00] it is a struggle to get out of bed and get moving. It feels impossible, in fact. I’m a college student pursuing a degree in nursing. Needless to say, class attendance is vital to good academic performance. My first class that takes place first thing in the morning is 7 miles away from my dorm.

Okay, it’s actually 65 if we’re getting technical, but that rounds to 75, which is basically a mile. Right? Right? Right. I found this podcast, you may have heard of it. It’s called, It’s Going to be Okay. I have so enjoyed listening to it and I found that following along is a nice motive to get up, get going and start the short pilgrimage to my classes.

I still struggle to get out of bed some days, but I remember that I’ll be able to pop on this pod and start my day with an okay thing during my morning walk. This podcast never fails to make me smile and restore my faith in humanity. It has made it easier to motivate myself to get to class. Guess whose grade is no longer [00:02:00] suffering due to a lack of attendance?

I owe it all to you. Thank you for what you do. 

Okay. It feels, I, some people are going to be like, there’s no way Nora wrote this. The team wrote this email. The way, I was shocked as I read this, just so you know. I was as shocked as you were. I was like, have I heard of this podcast? Wait, I have. This is our podcast.

We did not know that we were making a podcast that was, you an effective treatment for seasonal, uh, effective disorder. And that’s a joke. Okay. So don’t, don’t take that. That was literally just a joke. We did not know that it was going to get people to class. We didn’t know it was going to improve your grades, but we will take 100 percent full credit when Lauren becomes a registered nurse.

So Lauren, good job. You are doing amazing, sweetie. I missed a lot of class in college. I was not even just seasonally depressed. I was really depressed. regular depressed. I was just year round, really just, you know, I was extra credit depressed in college. So I am proud of you. I am proud of you for getting out of bed.

I am proud of you for pursuing a really, really difficult degree. And I’m proud of you for getting that grade up. Good job. Side note. Email me again. Send me your mailing address because I want to send you a little something in the mail. I love sending things in the mail.