By: Sofia Fortenberry
The bright sun shines down into your face as you run around outside enjoying the summer air. Suddenly a dark cloud races over the mountaintop and rain comes splashing down. The exhilaration that once consumed you vanishes as everyone rushes inside to escape the cold dark weather. The lively mood changes to feelings of sadness and loneliness.
However, why does the mood change with our environment? It seems now to be a habit everyone has, to incorporate feelings with different types of weather. From sunny to rainy and cold to hot, everyone has a different mindset with each. These certainly can be related to past experiences however, for many, it seems to be unclear as to why we tend to do this. Yet, this is similar to how you may seem to prefer one season over the other.
The four seasons (fall, winter, spring, and summer) each bring new events and emotions. With the impact of light and temperature coming in each, someone's desire will be affected by the transition.
Earlier, I created a survey to gain knowledge about other peoples’ perspectives on this topic and to see how certain types of weather affected different people. The results were unsurprising—most people liked spring/summer over fall/winter.
As the fall and winter approach, to many, cooler nights and darker mornings come alongside dread. There are cloudier days and getting outside is harder than before; coldness can overwhelm your body even with the sun shining. However, beauty is still within nature and what we see around us.
Responses from the survey stated that the mood associated with fall was more anxiety and stress. This can be expected due to the fact that in the fall many changes occur, not only in the environment around us(leaves), but also in schedules, routines, and expectations. So, it's not surprising that with all the change, comes stress.
Then when spring and summer comes up, school starts to relax, and excitement starts to build. The sun starts shining down on everyone every day and the heat wraps around you. The mood incorporated with summer was happiness. Most people start doing more self care during the summer as they have time to relax. This makes them feel good, happy, and more energized.
However, not only do the seasons impact our mood, but (heavy) rain, cloud coverage, and thunder/lightning does as well. Society has almost always portrayed the aspect of happy being sunny and sad being rainy. This can be seen through movies, art, and even social media as well.
In a movie when there is a sad scene, the most common situation is to see rain, clouds, or even a storm rolling in out of nowhere. This brings the mood down and even tears to form. Though, on the other hand, when there is a very happy scene you could probably notice that the setting is very sunny and bright. The vibe of any form of art can be changed just like that with the help of incorporating weather.
Though it has not yet been scientifically proven that weather does impact our moods, most everyone can relate upon the fact that this has made an impact on them. I often catch myself having a negative behavior towards rain or clouds and a more uplifting behavior towards sun. We have the ability to reverse this mindset though.
I’m sure everyone has experienced the words saying, “It's not a pretty day,” or “It's a gorgeous day out.” However as George Gissing once said, “for the man sound of body and serene of mind there is no such thing as bad weather; every day has its beauty…”
There will always be downs to every single situation. With every kind of season and weather, there will be negatives. Our job is to find the positive; to not dwell on the bad and to see the charm. If we put our minds to it, we can accomplish anything. Even changing our mindsets to believe that not only is the sunny weather beautiful, but so is the rain and clouds.
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Sources
Greveling, Esmee. “How the Weather Influences Your Mood?” Hypatia Project, 6 Aug. 2018, www.expecteverything.eu/how-the-weather-influences-your-mood/.
Ladipo, Tonya. “Does Your Mood Change with the Seasons?” GoodTherapy.org Therapy Blog, 21 Sept. 2017, www.goodtherapy.org/blog/does-your-mood-change-with-the-seasons-0925144
CurrentResults.com, Liz Osborn. “What's Your Weather Personality Type?” What's Your Weather Personality Type? - Current Results, www.currentresults.com/Weather-Science/4-weather-mood-personality-types.php
Barber, Nigel. “Why Weather Affects Mood.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 23 Apr. 2020, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-human-beast/202004/why-weather-affects-mood
Taylor, Julie. “Does Weather Affect Your Mood?” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/balance/features/can-rainy-days-really-get-you-down
Grohol, John M. “Can Weather Affect Your Mood?” World of Psychology, 28 Mar. 2019, psychcentral.com/blog/can-weather-affect-your-mood/