The sun’ll come up tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that…..

I never realize how important the weather is to my mood until we’ve had several days of dreary rain and then the sun comes out and my mood lifts and I feel energetic. I’m recovering from an appendectomy, so I though my mood was related to that. I woke up this morning and felt fabulous. I didn’t hit the snooze button 5 times, I didn’t roll over and groan about how I hate mornings. I got up, emptied the dishwasher, got my kids up, got them to school and I have been marking things off my to do list and it is only 9am. I realized that the sun is out today. It’s bitter bitter cold, but the sun is up. I know that is making a huge difference in my mood.

So I have decided to start to track that also. I found this great app for my iPhone called Gratitude! (itunes link). Each day you write down a few things you are greatful for and you can rate the day with 1 -5 stars and add a picture. I’ve been reading that if you spend more time seeing the good, then you will be more positive. I figure it can’t hurt. Since I am doing Project 365, I am adding that daily picture to each day. I’m going to add in there whether my mood was good, bad or ugly and whether the sun was out.

I know I must suffer from Seasonal affective disorder a bit. My Mom and I have talked about this often. We lived most of our lives in Wisconsin and the winters are just cold and long and dreary. Each winter, we would get depressed, gain weight and life just seemed dreary, but then Spring comes and once again you are alive. There are so many festivals and activies all summer long in Wisconsin and we figure it is because everyone celebrates all summer long because we hibernate all winter long. So, I wonder if you live in Miami, are you happier all year long? We visited Miami about a month ago and everyone was just so happy and nice. And it wasn’t just because we were staying in a nice hotel and they had to. We unfortunately spent 2 days at the hospital and they were all nice there too (and they didn’t have to be nice). Everyone had a great attitude and life seemed so layed back. I know when I retire, I am heading to the beach where it’s warm all year. I am really beginning to understand the retirees who head South for the winter.

So, how is your mood affected by the season, weather, sun?