When the Sun Stays Too Long: Reflections on Summertime Depression

It always surprises people when I tell them that summer is the season I struggle with most. There’s this collective image of summer being carefree, joyful, full of barbecues and sunshine and bike rides. And as a kid, I loved it—the freedom from school, the summer movies, the long days of doing nothing. But somewhere along the way, summer shifted for me. It became too much.

Too bright. Too long. Too loud.

The Discomfort of Lightness

As someone who finds comfort in dim rooms, early sunsets, and a soft hoodie pulled over my head, summer feels like an unwanted spotlight. The constant heat, the expectation to be out and doing, the lack of quiet corners—it all builds into a kind of emotional friction. There’s a strange guilt in feeling low during a time the world tells you should be your happiest.

Living in Austin has magnified this. The summers here are long and relentless, and I often find myself retreating inward—not in a romantic, reflective way, but in a survival mode. The heat becomes isolating, not just physically but emotionally. It’s like a reverse winter. Everyone is outside and active, while I’m inside trying to protect my nervous system.

Seasonal Depression, Flipped

Most people associate seasonal affective disorder (SAD) with winter—and rightfully so. But summer-pattern SAD is very real, and it’s less often talked about. While winter SAD tends to be marked by low energy and craving comfort, summer SAD can show up as agitation, restlessness, anxiety, and trouble sleeping. It’s more like being overstimulated than depleted.

And for creatives, that internal restlessness can feel even more complicated. I want to make, but my nervous system is taxed. I want to feel inspired, but everything feels flattened by the sun.

Ambient Music as a Place to Retreat

This is one of the reasons ambient music has become not just my practice but my refuge. Ambient music offers a kind of internal season—a soft, cool, slow space I can return to even when the external world feels like too much. It gives me permission to slow down, to dim the lights, to exhale.

Many of the tracks I’ve made during summer months were born out of this exact feeling—not an escape, but an effort to build a space I could feel safe and soothed in. A sonic shelter.

If summer ever feels too intense for you, I’ve curated a playlist called Meditative Wind Down, which includes ambient pieces designed to ease the nervous system and cool the temperature of your thoughts:

🎧 Follow & Save Meditative Wind Down

Letting Yourself Feel It

If you also struggle with summer—whether in a small way or a deep one—you’re not alone. There’s no season that fits all of us. And just because the world feels bright and fast doesn’t mean you have to match it.

Your experience is valid. Your energy is valid. And your need for slowness, shade, or stillness is sacred.

Until next time,
Your fellow human just being.

– Six Missing