My Thoughts on Weather vs. Mood Change

I must start this post by saying I have lived in Ohio all of my life. Well, all but a month which I spent in The Netherlands. I know about weather changes. In the past 72 hours I've seen sun, a blizzard where the temperature reached -5 Fahrenheit, rain, more sun, more snow and finally 55 degree weather with sun and rain.

I know about weather changes.

When I was younger, I never realized how these changes affected me. Besides owning everything from a bathing suit to snow pants, I am realizing that weather really does affect my mood.

I just got off of an anxiety medication about two months ago, so maybe it's some side-effect, but these last few days have been an emotional mess. I find myself laughing at stupid things, crying during t.v. shows and then yelling at my mother over absolutely nothing.

Take today for instance. I woke up at the awesome time of 7 a.m. to a thunderstorm. I watched the rain wipe away the beautiful white blanket of snow, replacing it with mud and puddles. I came to the living room, sick as a dog, and had a small mental breakdown.

Later today, after a much needed small coma also known as a nap, I found myself awakened to the sun. Seeing the sun in January in the snow belt is a miracle all in its own, but as I saw the sun shine, I felt myself get a little less moody.

(Also, I know I'm female, and some of you might chalk this up to p.m.s., but I assure you, I took care of that monthly visit a year ago.)

I camw to the living room to spend some time on Facebook. I was in a decent mood. As I noticed the clouds start to cover the sky and the room darken, I found myself thinking about my life. How I had to give up an awesome job because I'm consistently ill, how I have debt for a degree I can't use, how people get published who can't even spell cols-de-sac correctly. . . and I felt myself spiraling.

The rest of today went on in this fashion. Ups and downs. I used to tell myself that I loved winter. I loved being cold and able to have an excuse to be a hermit for months on end. Maybe I really just liked the darkened days where I could be depressed and it would be acceptable.

I'm taking this time to look at my options. Sure, bad weather happens everywhere, but would it kill me to move somewhere where I see the sun more than a week a year? Would it kill everyone to take a week and travel somewhere warm and happy?

I fully think if the general public could take a week or two every six months to go to California, or the Caribbean, or even Florida, the quality of life would improve.

Either that or I should get back on my anxiety medication.

*shrug*