Photo: Julia_Sudnitskaya - Getty Images
Rain falling on umbrella
For many, carping about the weather is a favorite pastime. Given how much we react to atmospheric conditions, it’s obvious they play a major role in our lives, not just physically but also psychologically. There are, for example, studies linking certain climate scenarios to emotional states, like the depression suffered by those with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which stems from reduced exposure to sunlight during winter.
What’s more, most of us harbor strong weather preferences that influence our moods. Many folks favor a narrow band of atmospheric conditions (often, sunny and warm), and when these occur, they sport a brighter disposition. However, when they don’t, the inverse often proves true. What this tells us is that, with notable exceptions (like SAD), the attitudes and expectations we harbor about the weather shape our moods as much or more than the actual conditions themselves. If I walk out the door on a chilly, rainy day and tell myself, “This is horrible,” then I am the author of my discontent. I can blame my dysphoria on the wet and cold, but my expectations are the actual culprit.
Along with attitude, the way we interact with our environment also affects emotional states. While many of us tend to huddle indoors during unwelcome atmospherics, the irony here is that spending as little as ten minutes outside enhances our moods, reawakens our senses and even improves cognitive performance. The research is clear — provided conditions are not extreme or unhealthy (like our smoke-filled skies of late) and we are properly dressed, we feel better emotionally when we interact with nature, which also means the weather.
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Cabin Fever
So, “cabin fever” and its accompanying feelings of melancholy, irritability and claustrophobia, even when it occurs in summer, is largely self-induced. The obvious antidote involves getting out of one’s cabin, so to speak, but many of us remain cloistered as much as possible. When I walk around my neighborhood, even on days when the weather is seemingly ideal, I’m impressed by how few people are outside. In less than copesetic conditions, it’s often deserted. When it comes to interacting with the natural world, many of us are fair weather friends indeed.
Now, there are legitimate exceptions. People with mobility issues, certain health challenges and the homeless have every right to complain about the barriers placed on them by inclement or unhealthy weather. And those whose jobs require they toil outdoors for long hours also earn the right to kvetch. But, for most of us, the only thing that truly limits our ability to get positively engaged with the meteorological environment is attitude and common sense.
Some folks who gripe about our weather demonstrate some deficits in the common-sense bucket. For example, during one of our fierce Wisconsin winters (increasingly less common, I’m afraid), I battled my way through wind-driven snow and bitter cold to a building entrance. My attire? Goose down coat, hat, ski gloves and insulated hiking boots. Right behind me, a young man burst in, angrily decrying the conditions. Given that he was clothed in a hoodie sweatshirt, no hat or gloves, and tennis shoes, I was less than sympathetic.
In some sense, inclement weather challenges us to adopt one of two opposing attitudes—either feel like a victim or act like an agent. A victim complains and feels put upon but malevolent forces. An agent accepts what can’t be changed, makes the best of it, and doesn’t allow external circumstances full control over their mood. So, except when the weather poses a clear and present danger (tornadoes, floods, lightning, extreme heat, unhealthy air quality, etc.), for most of us, the cabin fever cure is to directly engage with the elements.
Walk the neighborhood, swim, jump in a leaf pile, sit outside, stroll in the woods, take nature photos, throw snowballs, or sleep with the window open. In other words, participate with the Earth’s atmospherics. After all, modern appearances to the contrary, we do live on a planet.
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