Is it just me, or has it been raining since last summer? When the sun finally came out on Thursday it actually felt like I hadn’t seen it in about six months.
I like the rain but the non-stop grey has been really getting to me, and I don’t think I’m the only one. A lot of people I’ve talked to have admitted to feeling depressed, lethargic, unmotivated – even joyless. A week ago I was dragging myself through the basic motions of day-to-day life for no other reason than because stopping would have felt like some kind of defeat.
To say that this is all a result of Seasonal Affective Disorder wouldn’t be accurate. It’s part of it, that much was obvious when it got sunny and nice and it felt like my problems had – at least temporarily – been lifted off my shoulders. But the world is in an uncertain place right now.
The United States – arguably the most influential country in the world – is poised to elect a new leader and it’s primarily a race between a man that most of middle America views as a communist and the most vocally bigoted human being alive. Of course there’s also Hillary Clinton, but she kind of reminds me of Margaret Thatcher. Who knows what the socio-political landscape is going to look like next fall.
For those of us in the newspaper industry the future is even more uncertain.
Newspapers are closing left and right in Canada and it’s anyone’s guess who is going to be next on the chopping block. Given the news that the American hedge fund GoldenTree Asset Management LP is thinking about pulling out of Postmedia – GoldenTree owns 52 per cent the Canadian media giant’s variable voting shares, according to Yahoo News – it doesn’t seem like the situation is getting better any time soon.
Ultimately though, I don’t have any shares in either company – so I don’t have any control over who gets bought and who gets sold. I can’t vote in the American election either, so worrying about what might be is pretty futile. Feeling that lack of control is – I think – a big part of the problem.
I usually call my best friend when I’m feeling depressed and we commiserate together. If nothing else, she’s someone who can help me get a perspective on my problems. We spoke briefly on Thursday night about how a nice day can drastically change your outlook – even when nothing else has changed.
In the end her advice was just to let go. The world will continue to turn and for a few months we can all go out and enjoy the sunshine.
