WINTER BLUES AND MELANCHOLY

Since the dawn of human existence, people have been developing customs that are still present in our current reality. Celebrations such as Christmas, Día de Muertos (Mexico), Hanami (Japan), and Holi (India) have origins tied to the changing seasons—and from their very beginnings have been a natural response to collective and social development. Each of these celebrations is related to what the seasonal changes entail, constantly representing change not only in the physical realm but also in the spiritual, social, and mental spheres. Although these customs are present and alive, it doesn’t mean that each of us individually feels the same way about them.

THE CYCLE OF MELANCHOLY - ACENT, CONSTANCY, AND DECENT; GRAPHIC BY REBECA ROJAS AFANADOR AND KALLI YORK

It’s no secret that winter is commonly associated with a season of hibernation. The drastic change in temperature has a biological and behavioral impact on us, even if we don’t notice it because of its nature. An article by BBC News Mundo mentions this very topic; “In winter, our metabolism slows down because we’re less active, making us more prone to gaining weight. This only makes the body feel slow and weak, primarily affecting health components like a chain reaction of dominoes. Waking up in the morning and noticing that it’s still dark, even at 6:30 a.m.—it’s a change that redirects the course of our biology and nervous system. ‘We all experience mental health difficulties at some point in our lives.’ It’s a phrase that’s constantly mentioned in discussions about these changes caused by what I mentioned earlier—but it’s never really questioned, because it simply seems and feels natural; because it’s a reality we live with today. Concepts such as: The theory of modern depression (the increase in individuals suffering from depression stems from modernization), Goodhart’s law ("When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure") are results of this question: Where do these results come from? What are its factors?

Here’s where you can connect the dots: Modernization and change are reflected in those customs and everything related to them. The melancholy surrounding winter is merely an idea that has developed through various factors: the changes and the cycle that repeats until it evolves into something more. The cycle can become very complex if other factors are taken into account; things like individuality cause this complexity. For each individual, their perspectives are personal and will never be understood in the same way they are understood by that individual; here lies the reason why there have never been golden ages in human history: subjectivity. The cycle mentioned could be described as facets. Ascent, constancy, and descent.

The ascent could be related to that moment when everything comes together to create something better. In my view, the New Year is a celebration that embodies this, just like spring; the future is promising and generates that sense of purpose and progress. Constancy, which is similar to consistency, could be associated with summer—the temperature staying roughly the same, the sense of freedom, and the steady routine. And as the final facet, the descent is winter—the lack of that sense of purpose caused by our system’s withdrawal, stemming from the absence of an environment and the lack of elements that cognitively stimulate us to continue.

With this last one, another factor emerges: nostalgia. Our mind plays a crucial role, constantly altering our reality and generating mental dilemmas that, from a rational standpoint, aren’t actually part of reality. In the case of seasonal depression—it’s still up in the air. The exact cause isn’t really clear, and it’s not even certain whether what was mentioned is a trigger, but things like nostalgia are factors to consider. That feeling of losing something symbolic or relevant to us can trigger feelings of emptiness. An example would be watching the leaves fall from the trees and pile up on the ground, or the sunlight lasting less throughout the day. Aside from that, we’ve all heard our parents speak so passionately about their memories, and personally—I can always detect that slightly bittersweet undertone. Talking about things that have already happened and can’t really be relived is complicated—because you always have in mind that everything is now just a memory.

This is where the mind plays dirty. The cycle constantly repeats itself, with each generation developing and growing. A Millennial’s childhood isn’t like that of a Gen Z, due to the different social environments of the time—and these differences cause situations like that feeling of superiority over the next generation. That nostalgia traps people in a closed-off mindset, because they see what they experienced as something they’ll never experience again in today’s world. This is called the “Golden Age Fallacy,” and it can be described as that nostalgic thinking that dismisses other generations as incompetent or inferior for facing situations different from those of the previous generation. This is where Goodhart’s law can be applied. Older generations, instead of perceiving the change in the social environment and what comes with it (customs, interactions, ideals) as something that doesn’t meet their “ideal standards”—which are simply how they lived in their time— This only makes them a target to emulate, rather than a step forward in progress—stripping the modern narrative of its relevance to preserve nostalgia.

The fact that modern depression is becoming more and more widespread today is due to the lack of exposure to these issues. We always learn about the Great Depression, but we never look at it from a present-day perspective. Things like seasonal, social, mental, and generational change stem from various factors that are not taken into account. Phenomena such as nostalgia or seasonal depression stem from deeper sources rooted in our very existence and in what makes us human: consciousness. 

The purpose of this article is to encourage a clearer direction. With things like this, we’ll never break free from the cycle of ascent, consistency, and descent. As a society, we must implement and encourage curiosity—because if we try our best, we will find the correlation between everything around us and where it comes from.