The dark days

It gets dark quickly this time of year. I’ve lived with the winter/summer light extremes for seven years now. You’d think that I would have adjusted to them. Rationally, I know that it’s November and that November is a notoriously dark and gray month. But every day, I am taken aback by the dark. I’ll be working at my desk and look outside around 3 or so and I’ll be struck again by the blackness of the sky. The dark folds over me like a cold wet blanket. Then I have to stare outside for a minute or two, shake my head, rub my eyes and say, damn, it’s dark. Then I’ll go back to work. It’s like I’m in the movie Groundhog Day and forced to live with the same sensation over and over again. At least I’m handling my reactions better than I used to: a few years ago when I would look out at the afternoon dark, I would feel so overwhelmed that I’d either cry or scream in frustration. Now I just yawn.

Tagged as: Autumn light in Stockholm