In the past I used to associate winter with depression, mainly because of days with less daytime and in the case of snowy locations, less sunlight. Now it’s completely opposite. I am dreading summer. Summer in Japan is horrible, and to be honest, it is probably horrible in most other places too. First is the humidity. This is my main complaint, because anything above 70% has me sweating at all times, which in turn is very bad for my eczema-ridden skin, and I’m also not entirely convinced it is just because I sweat a lot, but also because fauna and dust mites thrive under these circumstances and my body reacts very poorly to them. This in turn typically starts a horrible cycle that I don’t really get to see the end of until December or January. My skin itches and so I have trouble sleeping, which then in turn makes skin worse and my sleeping worse. This cycle is only offset somedays by being so tired I can actually fall asleep but then it just restarts. How I have managed is beyond me, but typically it goes somewhere along the lines of: be generous with the air conditioner and medicine (typically steroid cremes…).
This horrible cycle has actually horrible consequences in that I have trouble focusing at work, have trouble finding motivation and energy to exercise, and overall keeps me in a poor mood. Last summer might have been the best summer despite the heat, but I sacrificed exercise hard for it. I refrained from moving at all, keeping sweat at a minimum. Second is the rainy season. This shouldn’t require much discussion but I want to mention how much I hate it’s variability and how it affects me skin. Some days during rain my skin feels fine whereas other days I feel like I want to die. It’s completely insane to me how hard it is for me to find any degree of interrelation between weather patterns and my skin. Lastly, the lack of things to do in the summer near me underwhelm me. In the winter, I’m heavily invested in skiing, a fun and relatively safe way to have fun at high speeds. It brings me joy thinking when I will get to skiing next. But in the summer, the available options feel so lackluster. Mountain biking is nearly non-existent despite there being perfectly good resorts and potential trails. Road cycling, while an OK endeavor, really only is fun in certain conditions that in my opinion, rare. Good roads, gorgeous views and almost no cars seems very difficult to find, but I can admit I can look further. Hiking, is okay, I do enjoy it, but also feel its immensely popular (too many people) which often ruins many nice trails, but here too I think there is room for improvement.
Overall I still am not looking forward to summer. It’s a big issue I need to overcome, somehow. Either by moving, or changing my environment such that I can survive enough inside.