Happy Holidays

Ever get the blues around the holidays?   Fortunately, this Christmas was not a particularly rough one for me as I was in a state other than Illinois ...you know, one of those states where the sun actually stays out for the majority of the day!   The last 2-3 prior years however were not all that pleasant for me.  I think a lot of people have what they call the winter blues or seasonal affective disorder (S.A.D. for short).   The basic cause behind the disorder is a lack of sunlight exposure, where the sufferer experiences feelings of depression and despondency after several dreary days.  I would say that my mood is definitely impacted by the weather.  Not to say that I don't enjoy an occasional rainy day at home watching movies...but I do feel that my mood is noticeably different on days where there's limited sunshine. 

Obviously, not everyone has this problem.  But I wonder why some people are affected this way and others are not?   I know that for most people, the holidays can be very stressful and/or emotional time. Given that fact, I would think that several days of gloomy weather could only help compound the problem.  I do believe that human beings need a certain amount of sunlight to remain healthy and vibrant.  After all, the sun is what gives life to the planet....it provides warmth, generates solar energy and photosynthesis, and it gives us an amount of vitamin D that gets absorbed through the skin and eyes.  All these are necessary to sustain life. 

So I guess that begs the question, why would one choose to live in IL?  Well, there's Chicago.......and good pizza.......and.........?   My family (most of whom all live here) are of course very important to me as well. Unfortunately though, the older I get the less I see of them anyhow. Plus they could certainly come visit me if I were to move to say,  Florida or Arizona right!?  Whatever the case, I think that many times our attitudes and feelings are impacted by our environments.  Moving somewhere else is certainly not going to solve all your problems.  That's a falsehood that many have come to discover.   But it can give you a new perspective on things and life in general.  In the meantime, I guess I'll just have to deal with this damn icy weather....and dream about palm trees and coconuts :-)