Nature has quite a hold on us. When I think about my own life, my mood is so easily changed by the weather or season! If the sun is shining, it won't matter if I'm having a rotten day, I'll still smile and enjoy the sunshine and be happy. However, on the cold and rainy days so frequent to State College, I am not quick to be in a good mood. Walking around with soggy sneakers and wet jeans is no fun. Also, think of the first snow of the winter. Everyone is so excited and wants to talk about the snow. Speaking of conversation (pun), what do you talk about when you are in an awkward conversation and can't think of something to say? The weather! Not to mention the weather makes the front page of the newspaper every day.
(Just as a side note, we are biologically designed to respond positively to sunlight... it is a great source of Vitamin D which makes your body healthy and strong. In the winter, some people who don't get enough sunlight can be diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) which is a type of depression. So sunlight really does put you in a good mood!)
I'm glad to have taken a class in which everyone shares an appreciation for the outdoors. It was very eye-opening to hear the different opinions represented in class, among peers and by some great philosophers and environmentalists. It was a pleasure this semester. Best of luck and enjoy the sunshine and warm weather!
It's so true about how sun can affect a human's emotional state. Last semester in my sociogeography course, we learned how Alaska and many of the northwestern states have consistantly higher suicide rates than other parts of the country. One of the factors influencing this is how these states get very little sun. The higher the latitude, the less sun the earth recieves based on it's tilt. Also, states like Washington along the coast are often very cloudy and overcast. So sun does have a major impact on peoples' internal state of emotion.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that the weather can completely change your mood. My friend and I were just talking about how we use both good weather and bad weather as excuses. "oh its raining outside, I'm not going to go" and "oh its so nice outside, I need to enjoy this and not go do what I was suppose to". I really did enjoy this class and especially the days we went outside. It was neat to just sit there next to tulips and think about how my thoughts on them have completely changed since we discussed them earlier in the semester.
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