Atypical!

The opposite of typical; not conforming to the type. Abnormal. Irregular.

Yup, I have this. Though I'm not talking about my personality... other people may be, but I'm not.

My atypical-ness is very specific. It has to do with this fact: I hate summer.

The actual clinical term is Reverse SAD. Reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder.

For those who suffer from SAD, they usually experience this disorder in the winter months. It will often begin in mid-November, become more severe through December, peek sometime after the winter solstice, and then as days lengthen and there is increasing amounts and duration of light, the disorder remits, only to return again the next fall. It is awful; it is truly an illness for those folks who suffer with it, and while there are strategies and medication that can help, it is a challenge for those with the disorder.

But reverse SAD? Yup. There are people like me who find that in the summer, they get irritable, withdrawn, sullen, tend to isolate, have a blunted/dysphoric mood and experience anhedonia. While there's not a lot of research on it, I don't need the research. I've had it all my life, and that's saying something, since I grew up in Florida, the Sunshine State. When the temperature climbs, so does my life dissatisfaction. Increased humidity? Increased dysthymia. Put them together, and I'm not worth living with. Oh, I also hate Al Gore, for creating global warming. But I do appreciate him for the internet.

Yes, I am the boy who hates summer. I hate the heat. I hate humidity. I am repulsed when the two join forces. What do I do?

I stay inside. A lot. In response, I unknowingly developed coping hobbies; I write, I love movies (dark, cold, plus escape), I cook, and I look for property in Iceland. I dream of a summer with snow, of an August day that requires a sweater. And I accept that what I experience isn't just laziness, or 'being moody' or 'difficult'. What I experience is real. And now, it has a name.

Names help. Why is that? Maybe because when we are able to label something, it gives it more reality. Maybe names let us know that we're not alone with what we experience. Maybe, like people used to believe, names have power, and if you know one's name, or something's name, that you have power over it.

I like this last idea! I like the notion that I'm not powerless in relation to summer, that my coping mechanisms aren't just me being weak and whiny (well, not only being weak and whiny), and that I can develop more skills to deal with summer and Adverse SAD.

Solutions cheaper than a house in Reykjavik.

Hope whatever your 'atypical' is, that you accept it, know that whatever it is, it is real, and create some solutions and power to cope with it.

I have to go now, as I'm getting fitted for a new suit. It's made out of snow!