I’ve been a bit manic the last few days; not so much physically as mentally. I think it’s the sun; when I taught yoga for mental health a lot of bipolar people tended to become manic in the summer. It’s understandable because everything else is manic; the insects and the plants, the weeds – oh, the weeds! – everything’s up and doing and it’s hard not to join in. I wish I were physically manic though; I’d be able to lose a bit of weight, but as it is the mind is buzzing but the body slumps: I have the brain of a bee and the body of a slug.
It’s hard to concentrate on days like these. You want to do everything at once; it seems that if you don’t do it now, it won’t get done; so this morning I activated my birthday Google Play voucher and started downloading audio books like there’s no tomorrow. I want to learn modern Greek so I can put it side by side with Ancient Greek, and Italian and Anglo-Saxon (though I don’t think there’s an audio book for that) and ‘read’ the rest of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet and – and – everything. I’m just getting used to audio books; in general I prefer the physical page and as I’ve said I can’t deal with ebooks at all (though I did read Edwin Drood, what there is of it, on Project Gutenberg.) The result of all this activity is, predictably, burnout and depression; it’s a cycle I know well. Therefore I started the day with meditation, which has slowed me down a bit, and if it comes back I shall maybe play some slow music or do some breathing exercises.
Aaaaand breathe!
I would never claim to have full-blown manic depression or bipolar syndrome – or depression or psychosis or any of the problems I experience from time to time – but that doesn’t mean they aren’t real. They’re just a taste, really, of what other people have to deal with on a daily basis, and I can only imagine what that’s like. Fortunately I have techniques to manage these experiences so I can usually bring myself back to a state of balance. In any case it’s quite damp here this morning, so perhaps that’ll settle me too. And now if you’ll excuse me I’ll get back to my audio books and Greek and Italian and Anglo-Saxon…
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 
Brian Aldiss’s ‘Hothouse’ is kind of about that. The Sun stops setting so over half the planet is in permanent daylight and the whole land surface is covered in a single banyan tree and vicious predatory plants, while human beings are relegated to running and hiding from them, only a foot tal and living in seed pods to shelter from the light. But you will remember a certain patient of mine who suffered in this way. I don’t think it does us much good to live so close to the poles. It was like a rage against the light. Midsummer madness.
Raining here, too; too late for me to enjoy the petrichor, unfortunately. Cheers, Jon.
I’ve forgotten what petrichor means
“Petrichor is the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. The word is constructed from Greek petra, “rock”, or petros, “stone”, and īchōr, the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology.” 😀
Ah yes! I remember now, thanks. You’d think I’d know that, with studying Greek
Summer didn’t last long enough for me to get manic. It is 14 C here, and has been raining for fifteen hours. I have had lights on in the house since I woke up.
Best wishes, Pete.
LOL yes it’s pretty dark here too