I Hate Wind! Seasonal Effective Disorder?

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails."  ~William Arthur Ward

When we lived in Ohio, my husband, Jeff suffered from Seasonal Effect Disorder (SAD).  Too many days without sunshine play havoc on the neurotransmitter levels. Every year he would get more and more depressed as the days got shorter and the winter gloom set in.  It finally got so bad that once he stopped working he started leaving in early November, traveling around the country visiting friends and relatives until spring! Honestly. Now that we live in the Southern California desert he is happy as a clam.  He loves the sun, the heat, and the dry weather.

Not me. Now I have SAD.  But it is the reverse - too much sunshine.  Really!  Day in and day out of sunshine makes me crazy!  Add to that the dryness, the brown and especially the WIND and I find myself wanting to crawl into bed and hibernating.  He laughs at me, but it is real.  This year has been particularly windy.  And to make matters worse, they are building a new subdivision behind our house and there is tons of dust blowing too. Plus I have allergies to something in the desert that makes breathing challenging. Not a great combination. 

Today marks so many days in a row of heavy winds that I have lost count. The doors and windows were open and just the sound of the wind blowing was making me crazy.  I went through the house and shut all the windows and doors, closed the drapes and turned on the AC.  I curled up on the sofa and turned on the TV.  Suddenly, I realized this is how Jeff must have felt in Ohio.

Now, this is sounding like a very negative post, and that is not my intention. What this is an acknowledgement of how environment effects me, and all of us. Each of us has an environmental match, whether it’s based on heritage, physiology, or just preference.  It is good to pay attention to that when you’er making decisions on where to live! 

A good friend said to me, when I was complaining to her about the weather, “Bloom where you’er planted!”  And, I have taken that advice to heart.  But somedays it’s hard and today is one of them.  The good news, eventually the wind will stop!  (Plus I'm headed to the beautiful pacific northwest for a month in just two days!! Just the escape I need!)