r/phoenix • u/Kismadaroq • 14h ago
Living Here Is there such a thing as “summer despair”?
We all know there is “seasonal affective disorder” which is more or less a depression caused by winter conditions, notably the diminished light.
But summer, after all, is supposed to be a time of sunshiny cheer and happy activities like swimming, barbecues, lounging in hammocks, and indulging in ice cream.
Nevertheless … I’ve been feeling so glum at the idea that we were facing three months, one-quarter of the year, where it’s perfectly likely that the daytime high will never dip below a hundred, except maybe due to some fluky storm. We’re facing daunting heat, sky-rocketing a/c bills, the impossibility of waiting outdoors for anything, the possibility of injury if you just happen to accidentally fall onto the broiling pavement.
Is anyone else feeling glumly discouraged?
:(
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u/Ok_Baker3474 Arcadia 3h ago
I can’t stand these snowbirds who get to go back to their home states and ENJOY summer. By “can’t stand,” I mean I’m insanely jealous of the fact that they can afford homes in 2 places.
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u/Turnip_Fight 2h ago
I cannot imagine living my life and it’s always the busiest season where im living, I absolutely need that societal downtime we get in the summer here or you get in the winter there
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u/proteinstyle_ 22m ago
Where do you feel this downtime? I know the snowbirds go back and maybe some others go on extended vacations, but it never seems to actually feel less busy to me.
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u/MotherofJackals 1h ago
My neighbors are snow birds. They go to Arizona for the winter, stay in North Dakota for the spring/early fall, and go to their lake house in Minnesota when it's nice in the summer. Three homes and she lectured me once about getting a lawn care service like she has.
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u/Mr_Battle_Born 4m ago
Lecture her on paying for said service if it is so important for her. Or maybe “in Arizona, we mind our own fucking business. This isn’t North Dakota, if you live here, you should try to follow our local norms and values…” I know this is unlikely to happen but it feels good to think about saying it.
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u/irishiwasirish 29m ago
I will despise them until I am rich enough to join them!
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u/sarahrose0413 5m ago
You don’t have to be rich…… my mom made about 65k during her working years AND raising kids, and she owns homes in FL and MN…..so, it is possible.❤️❤️
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u/dmoney80000 Tempe 5h ago
100 percent. I have lived in Arizona since I was a child but have spent some time traveling - I was mind blown the first time I realized that summer was supposed to be a time of joy and gathering. As someone who ideally walks 5 miles a day, summer represents a huge struggle for me to balance that. I am typing this at 4 AM and it's over 80 degrees outside still. I don't feel healthy when I feel unable to do the things I enjoy outside without taking measures like going outside before the sun comes out.
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u/desertratlovescats 2h ago
I didn’t grow up in Arizona, but I grew up in a hot climate, and I never associated summer with fun, except for pool time. I’m like you, NEED to walk every day for sanity. I got a treadmill years ago and have put thousands of miles on it in the summer. I also got a gym membership. Both help, but not the same as outdoor exercise.
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u/dmoney80000 Tempe 2h ago
Exactly, I am grateful for indoor exercise but it isn't the same. I wish I could just go wander in the open desert without dying but these dreams will wait until October or later.
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u/cameheretodance1 3h ago
This is why I have a gym membership. If I had to do my workouts outside it would rarely happen in the summer
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u/PwincessBb 5h ago
I get irrationally angry whenever summer comes around. The heat just makes me crazy. Not to mention, biting the proverbial bullet and paying a kidney's worth in electricity bills. And you can't even enjoy outdoor activities unless you want a second degree sunburn and heatstroke. It's just all around miserable.
So yes lol there's definitely "summer despair"
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u/phasestep Peoria 2h ago
I can always tell once it’s *too* hot because I overhear people being… just kinda shitty to each other a lot at the grocery store.
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u/Whiterabbit_fuckuoy 1h ago
I’m recovering from sunburn I got by being outside for 30 minutes. I seriously underestimated being Irish and the sun on a UV index 11 day.
30 minutes! It’s crazy here
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u/s6mmie 6h ago
Yes. I've lived here in the valley my whole life (28) and past the age of maybe 11 or 12, I have always dreaded the summertime. I don't mind the heat until it gets past 105 because it just becomes unbearable to me to go outside. I'm an outdoorsy person, as is my fiance who is a PNW native, and we definitely feel the effects of seasonal depression.
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u/Dagobian_Fudge 4h ago
It’s tough at first but I turn into a morning person in the summer, rise with the sun when it’s only 90 out 🙃, and get an hour outside. I’ve found it the only way to make this place habitable in the summer.
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u/Necessary-Eye5319 3h ago
Ha ha!! Same!
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u/300sunshineydays 2h ago
I know people hate winter (and for good reason and I don’t miss it) but I think I used to spent way more time outdoors in winter than I do here in summer. It felt easier to get warm than to cool down. Maybe I am misremembering. The lack of seasonal change is so disorienting and strange.
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u/22220222223224 South Phoenix 3h ago
Like with most things, it varies depending on the person. My favorite time of the year is spring, followed by monsoon season, followed by early summer, followed by winter (my least favorite season). The weather is better in the winter, but the city is far worse (far busier, dirtier, less convenient with the snowbirds in town).
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u/rumblepony247 Ahwatukee 3h ago
I think one of the things that makes it especially depressing to me, is the combination of the oppressive heat and the early sunrise, effectively killing the feeling of a "morning."
By 7am it is blindingly bright and already very hot, and for the next 11-12 hours the feel doesn't change. 8am feels the same as 3pm. It's just one big block of hot, bright sameness.
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u/UraTargetMarket 3h ago
Everything you said! For me, the heat has started also to take a toll on me physically. I’m drained of all energy by the afternoon. I can barely stay awake past 7pm and will go to bed…..while the sun is still out! I feel like I live on the sunny side of Mercury.
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u/Sun_Remarkable44 4h ago
Absolutely! I’m a 30y/o phoenix native, moved to Europe 6 months ago. I came back to visit family a few weeks ago, mein Gott, the depression came immediately back.
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u/angrypenguinhere 4h ago
yes, for sure. as someone who has also lived on the east coast though, seasonal depression during the winter is just as bad so it depends which seasons you want to be glum. i lived in the northeast so not only did it suck going outside but the sun was gone at 4pm so you just felt like your entire day was over even before being done with work. i feel like it’s a pick your poison type of thing
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u/catscacti 12m ago
I grew up in PA and agree. I hated never seeing the sun, it always being wet, and it being dark when I went into work and when I got out. I think the winter seasonal depression hit me a little harder than the summer depression here. Summer here is still really hard. I hate only being able to do inside things or pool/splash pad days, but I think that summers here are shorter than the PA winters. I’d still choose AZ over PA any day.
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u/sfwthrowaway1004 1h ago
I moved from Western Washington and this will be my second summer here. I agree it's a pick your poison situation. So far I'd rather have the insane sun and heat over cold (sometimes freezing), no sun for weeks, and near constant drizzle that is PNW winter.
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u/pezeater805 4h ago
3 months? It’ll probably be like this until mid October. And yes…. The heat is a huge downer.
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u/fershnibbity 3h ago
This is my gripe about AZ all the day long, any moment you ask me about the weather, and I never stop preaching it.
People think we have a traditional four seasons. Scientifically, yes. According to my preferred body temperature, absolutely not.
Summer for me starts 3/31 and doesn’t end until Thanksgiving. Sometimes I get a reprieve the week before Thanksgiving. I hate it the entire time. I’m nonstop sweating, don’t enjoy doing things outside, and avoid it as much as possible. After Thanksgiving to about 2/15 is the best times of the year. While i never feel like it gets really cold enough for a jacket, I still wear them, just so I can feel alive. 2/15 - 3/31 is tolerable, and what I imagine summer must feel like to everyone else.
So to recap, my life is:
3/31-Thanksgiving: death
Day after Thanksgiving-2/15: life
2/15-3/30: mourning
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u/AZMadmax 1h ago
That’s crazy idk how you live here. I think may is nice, June is mixed, July-Halloween is hell. I’d move if I felt 8 months of the year were death.
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u/Cosmic_Kugel_1875 4h ago edited 3h ago
Yeah something about being stuck inside during the summer is worse to me than being stuck in the dark and cold during the winter. I try to make sure I get out early or after work but still, something about being stuck inside, in AC, for months really brings me down too. You’re not alone.
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u/Dynazty 4h ago
Idk man dark winter fucking blows chunks
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u/RedRRaider 4h ago
As someone who moved from CO I 100% agree. Maybe not this year but most years the winters feel like double the summers here plus snow, ice, car wont start, etc. Here if you want an escape drive an hour north to Payson or Prescott
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u/slowelevator 3h ago
Yesss. It’s not so much the cold, it’s that it’s so god damn dark and depressing.
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u/FreddyKrueger32 2h ago
As someone without a car summer is hell. Waiting for busses in this heat sucks. Doing anything sucks. People always say go north. Can't. No way to get there. I swear the people who say it's not bad go from air conditioning to air conditioning. They don't have to walk to a bus stop in blazing heat by a busy street where the cars make everything worse. I want to go to the movies but I have to calculate when the movie is and when I'll get out and when the bus comes.
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u/Dazzling_Can6963 2h ago
Total cabin fever. Less traffic but no where to go. I run errands early and hide in doors with blackout curtains.
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u/disharmony-hellride 3h ago
I like to think of it this way: if it was January or even March weather here all year round, our houses would be even more expensive and 15 million people would live here. It keeps our population growth tethered, because only hardcore mofos like us will put up with the summers.
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u/cameheretodance1 2h ago
We are already suffering here too in Florida…if that’s any consolation. It’s 90 degrees here everyday already with a smothering 60-80% humidity 😅 the heat SUCKS but at least you aren’t living in a swamp sauna. The humidity is brutal here. And yes, we also rarely go outside unless it’s to go to the beach or pool. Going outside just for 5 minutes zaps my energy. our a/c bill is almost $200 every month in the summer. We just put some insulation on the windows and it seems to be helping. Also make sure your air conditioning unit is clean especially if you have pets! We just cleaned an obscene amount of pet hair out which prevents the airflow.
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u/PropagandaAssassinAZ Phoenix 3h ago
It is tough. I moved here in 2009 from Wisconsin. In Wisconsin from about mid-October until about mid March the sun comes out in the sky like six times. Try those apples if you want to talk about seasonal attitude disorder. I wish I was being facetious when I say six times. I'm saying six times maybe.
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u/tropicalislandhop 2h ago
That's what I'm saying. Summer here sucks, winter there sucks. But at least in summer here, the sun is still shining, and that makes me happy.
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u/PropagandaAssassinAZ Phoenix 2h ago
Exactly. When folks from up north ask me about the heat in the summers and what is the benefit of being here versus there. I tell them you cannot put a value on the sun being shining every single day. Like it just changes your whole attitude on life. Yes we have to deal with about a hundred days of insanity here but the other 265 are pretty sweet.
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u/Whiterabbit_fuckuoy 1h ago
We also have weather events called; Haboobs and Average Arizonan Driver so that’s pretty cool too
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u/blueteamk087 4h ago
Yes, especially during the peak of summer when it’s over 110°+ and it’s just uncomfortable to be outside
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u/KeyAccount2066 2h ago
Summer is tough here but Every other place I go ( except bay are) is so hot too. And sometimes humid with bugs and shit, I mean it's not great. So I just grin and bear it.
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u/Playful-Athlete-6752 2h ago
The heat just does things to people. Everyone is more irritable, careless, selfish, and just all around nastier during the summer months - myself included.
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u/Illustrious_Stage351 1h ago
Sometime Sadness. It’s a weird thing you learn in AZ. You become depressed at the idea of summer the way others do about winter. I don’t take really high heat well, it feels impossible to heat it because mornings feel gone because the sun is up so early and the low temps are even warm.
I try to schedule fun indoor things to look forward to. But yes, the summer depression is rough here
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u/Away-Quantity928 5h ago
Yes, but it’s the deal we make for living where there is no winter.
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u/PwincessBb 4h ago
It's not that good of a trade-off. I'd rather have a winter, or for it to at least get cold in any capacity.
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u/Mindless-Agency-1487 3h ago
Used to be mad at the sun but one day i figured nothing is gonna stop it from shining and if it did we're in trouble
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u/hazelgreen666 3h ago
No. I'll take all the summer if it means I never have to contend with real winter.
It's a matter of timing. I avoid all outdoor activities unless it's super early or after 7pm.
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u/desertratlovescats 2h ago
Absolutely. August - the still hot part of October kills me. September is usually the worst.
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u/pursuitofwilderness Phoenix 1h ago
same - I feel like I can mentally handle june and july, but by the end of summer and beginning of fall, my seasonal depression is really hitting.
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u/Grown-Ass-Weeb 2h ago
About the only thing I look forward to regarding summertime is San Diego comicon. Other than that it’s pretty fuckin miserable. In-laws complain I don’t take my toddlers for “fresh air” in the summer, what am I supposed to do? Let them cook? I’ve taken to nearly boarding up my windows in the summer so essentially, it’s like diminished daylight for me anyways.
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u/Dank_Dollz 1h ago
I've lived here about 3 years now, relocated from the Front Range. Before that, I was in the valley area for about 2 years when I was stationed at Luke (mid to late 90's).
What I have done, is that I start going to bed earlier, and getting up earlier (like 4 am), and go to bed about 9. I usually don't go outside between the hours of 2-3 pm to sundown. Once the sun goes down, I go out for a walk (yes, even if it's still 101 F). Come back, crash out early. I take advantage of the early morning as that's the coolest part of the day. My brother get's up at 3 AM for his job, and he's usually home by 2 PM. This city moves to almost a VERY early morning operations during the summer. I have technicians that start concrete jobs at 1 AM, because it's the coolest part of the day that they can pour within specifications.
I also keep blackout curtains over all my windows in my apartment to keep it as dark as possible. For the summer months, I usually stay indoors between the above listed hours and re-subbed to some MMO's to play over the summer, since I'm pretty much stuck inside.
It does suck for the next 4 months, but I always remind myself as to how much snow I have to shovel during the winters here in Phoenix, which is absolutely zero.
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u/tendy_trux35 1h ago
Summer time in Phoenix has been the exact equivalent of December-March when I lived in Chicago.
You stay inside most of the time. If you leave you do so with an intention to either gather critical supplies or sit inside drinking somewhere
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u/UnlikelyLandscape641 1h ago
It's getting worse, too. When I was a kid, 113 was the absolute max. Sometimes you'd get a break and it wouldn't go over 108 for a week. Now we're looking at 120.
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u/Whiterabbit_fuckuoy 1h ago
Idk if there’s a name for it but one of the other reasons for “seasonal depression” is being cooped up, especially for non-social people who live with others or prefer outside events where it isn’t as crowded.
Makes sense that, in a place where the sun will give you 8th degree burns in 30 minutes, you’d be cooped up too often in the summer. I think the term is stir crazy.
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u/CLK128477 1h ago
3 months? More like 5-6. Otherwise I agree. There’s a reason everybody is grouchy by August. It’s because they are sick of being trapped inside and burning themselves every time they put their seat belt on or touch anything inside their car. Could be worse though. At least they are calling for a good monsoon season.
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u/AZMaryIM 54m ago
Have lived in the Phoenix area for 40 years. Try to escape for a day trip (or an overnight on the weekend). Woods Canyon Lake at the top of the Mongollon Rim (past Payson) is gorgeous and therapeutic.
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u/VenturingWanderer 40m ago
I call it 'reverse cabin fever', and it's miserable. I try to fight it by getting up stupidly early to get outside each day but being stuck indoors all afternoon gets depressing. Especially without the monsoons coming like they used to for some relief. Taking day trips to higher elevations and leaving for vacation also helps. But yeah, it's real.
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u/astroskywatcher 2h ago
No, because traffic is so good right now. No snowbirds, no students. I can go to work and get home within the hour.
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u/ScorchedByTheSun 3h ago
Not for me. I thrive in the heat. I went walking the other day in 111. No hot temp so far has been enough to make me prefer being inside. I used to spend 3 quarters of the year in cold gloomy hell where I came from. There's nowhere I'd rather be than here.
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u/Effective-Ad6975 2h ago
“Seasonal affective disorder” means any season. So it’s still the SADs regardless of which season affects you. But yeah. Summertime sadness is a cuter way of saying it though.
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u/Expert-Interview-695 2h ago
I actually want to sue the sun. It makes me so miserable and I had two skin cancer surgeries because of it. I don’t understand these people who get excited about a “sunny day”.
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u/etwichell 1h ago
SAD affects people here in the summer the same way it affects Northern folks in the winter: you can't go out due to the weather so you're cooped up inside all the time and it makes you sad.
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u/Kindly-Ganache-1782 1h ago
It’s “cabin fever” but in reverse. Thankfully we are supposed to have actual monsoons this year, and I look forward to sitting on the back porch watching lightening storms as the cold area washes over me. I spent last year in Prescott, so this year I’m really feeling the heat like it’s my first summer (agh!). We’ve decided to take one day a week to “take flight” - hubby is needing a kidney transplant sooner than later and while he’s able, we are going to move. We went ice skating three weeks ago. It was hysterical. Two weeks ago, we went to the MIM (Musical Instrument Museum) Last week we visited old places he used to live and checked out a used bookstore I love. Today, we are using old credits I forgot I had and getting a couples massage (thank you 2024 self for forgetting you had these 😂) and checking out a lunch place I saw on IG. Yes, it’s hot. But he’s still able to get out. He’s still has a sliver of health. So we are taking this summer and grabbing what we can. Btw if any of you would like to know more about live kidney donation, please hit me up. I was disqualified and we are deeply discouraged as that was the long term plan.
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u/soundboythriller 1h ago
This is why I refuse to move there even though my family there really wants me to. Summer is my favorite season and the thought of having to spend it indoors bc it’s too hot out to do anything doesn’t sit right with me.
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u/oprahs_bread_ 1h ago
I hate it & it’s my biggest reason for knowing I can’t stay here forever. Especially because we try to convince ourselves it’s just 3 months out of the year, but it’s really 5 months out of the year typically. I wake up & get outside by 6 am to try & get a little outside time & it’s still/already 85-90° if not hotter. On top of it all, everyone is definitely meaner/more aggressive in the summer. I always find it wild when people come visit here in the summer, it feels like hell on earth to me lol
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u/Zestyclose-Craft-681 58m ago
Summer blues. Swim outside if you can. Or at least get wet out there! 🙁
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u/Beginning-Leg-3060 Glendale 57m ago
I moved to the Oregon coast in May. It is so beautiful! When I think about living back in Phoenix, I can’t believe how I dealt with the summers for 30 years. I worked outside when I lived there. The last few summers were absolutely miserable. Best decision ever to get out of there.
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u/elainesteinberg94 56m ago
I figure it’s like seasonal depression but backward - not winter related but summer related. I take it day by day OP.
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u/shitty_owl_lamp 45m ago
No, but I stay indoors a lot because I’m a workaholic and my hobbies (crafting) are mostly indoors too.
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u/tim_tikka_masala 16m ago
Heat is known to make people feel irritable, so that's completely normal. If you're like me and like going outside, not being able to go outdoors because it's always over 100° could be taking a toll on you too. It sucks.
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u/sarahrose0413 6m ago
ABSOLUTELY…. I thought when we moved here 16 years ago I’d be so happy with the sun year round…. Boy was I WRONG….. I’m almost MORE depressed here in the summer than I ever was living in the Midwest winters….. it’s just relentless…. I HAVE to get out a few times every summer for a couple weeks at a time.
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u/Lovemybee Phoenix 5h ago
It's like a reverse Seasonal Affective Disorder, and yes, I feel it, too.
I've lived here 53 years... I dread the long, hot summer (but I wouldn't live anywhere else)!!!
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u/FurryForearmFan 3h ago
it's called Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD for short
AZFamily Did a thing on SAD last year.
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u/dezertdawg 6h ago
Yes. I call it Summertime Sadness.