Sunshine

February 2020

Today I ponder the power of sunshine. Not just the radiant beams of light and heat that the sun provides to nourish our planet, but the power of a blue sky, sunny day to help heal a broken soul.

 I live in Michigan. Which is a Native American word for “endlessly cloudy”. Ok, probably not, but it is an apropos translation.  It is February, so my fellow Michiganders and I are not dissimilar to prisoners awaiting release from winter. It’s not just the lack of sun, it’s the lack of total daylight. Days are so short we often wake up in the dark, go to work in the dark, and then come home in the dark as well. It’s like living in a very large, damp cavern.

Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing like a Michigan summer.  Exceedingly long, warm, sunny, perfect days surrounded by freshwater lakes and streams.  A three-month paradise!  But at some point, in about September, when the days start to shorten and there is a chill in the air, an overall dread begins for the knowledgeable natives.  These are signs the wicked witch of winter will soon rear her ugly head.  Our parole has ended.  Then off to prison again.

There is nothing like the malaise that occurs on a grey day, with snow covered ground and leafless, barren deciduous trees as a backdrop.  The world is completely monochromatic.  In Michigan, those same huge freshwater lakes we enjoy in summer cause this to be the case for weeks and weeks on end. This brings on what is called sad, or better yet SAD. One of the best, most accurate acronyms ever.  Allow me to quote the AMA website:

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder, in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year exhibit depressive symptoms at the same time each year, commonly in the wintertime, due to reduced sunlight. And this is truly no laughing matter.

SAD has a plethora of symptoms, ranging from minor malaise to feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, thoughts of suicide, sleep and appetite problems, difficulty concentrating, making decisions, and decreased libido.  It sounds like the side effects from a prescription medication commercial on the Discovery channel.  And it is the real deal! It’s one of the major reasons that Florida is such a mecca for snowbirds from this region.  It’s not the cold, it’s the milky greyness.

Given this, if you were to envision the world’s happiest people, you might imagine an island nation somewhere, with people on a beach sipping tropical cocktails. But in fact, you should be picturing a fit, 30 something dude in slim-cut slacks and a parka, eight months into paternity leave, biking his two young kids to playgroup under a frozen, slate grey sky.

That is because some of the happiest cultures in the world lie in the very northern tier of countries, where winter can be exceedingly long and grey and wet and cold and dark. The UN’s World Happiness Report of 2020, ranks Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden at the top of their happiness list.  How can this be?

We won’t go deeply into the reasons for this here, but I will say, having visited and worked for periods of time in Norway and Denmark, the main source of their happiness is their ferocious dedication to actually enjoying their lives. They get a ton of time off from work and they use it. They are obsessed with the outdoors and their social systems allow for all their basic needs to be met, so they generally do not live in constant financial purgatory. 

Ok, so I guess we have a bit more than just grey, cloudy days to overcome in Michigan. It seems to be more complex than just sunshine. I guess I’ll ponder that another time. It hurts my head a little just to think about how much social change that would require in the US.  Yikes!

Regardless, today, after 30 or 40 days in a virtual tunnel of despair, the sun came out. The sky was so blue it hurt to look at it. Yet as I did, I quickly felt life re-emerging.  I stared at the crispness of everything within my sight.  All slowly bringing me back into the present moment. My problems seemed to melt away.  Not gone but put into perspective. The sunny blueness reminded me of how simple life really is and made me wonder why we so complicate it. I was warmed, reassured, and comforted in those thoughts.

As I basked in the rays, serotonin racing through my bloodstream, I lost myself in the moment.  I realized that life would go on and another spring and then summer would return.  I also knew that the clouds would return, the grey, but that moment was something to truly appreciate.  My soul was a little less tarnished.  Let’s just say the whole experience was Sunsational!