Chasing the Clouds Away

For the past three days I have been living in paradise.  Apparently, I was transported while I slept.

After the craziest winter weather that I can recall from recent years, ideal conditions blew in on a refreshing breeze.  The weather has been so divine that it makes it possible to forget about everything else, and it has been better than a beach vacation—no packing and no flight delays.  It is all comfort and joy.

Perhaps it is not just the political climate that has gotten us all down.  Maybe there has been an epidemic of meteoropathy, the physical, mental and emotional symptoms that emerge with changes in the weather. Temperature, humidity, sunlight, darkness, fog, precipitation can all influence our moods, our energy levels, our stress levels, and our intellectual functioning.  We can experience weather-related irritability, migraines, insomnia, stress, anxiety, depression, and most familiar of all to us older folks—aches and pains. 

I never knew I had the condition, but with the boost in memory, mood, attention, energy, and optimism that I have been feeling these last few days, I have to wonder.  It has left me feeling more compassion for Mother Nature who must be suffering a sort of chemically-induced menopause brought on by climate change—all those ups and downs in temperature, the burning hot flashes…

Long before doctors, neuroscientists and mental health professionals diagnosed seasonal disorders the English language was full of behavioral descriptors based on the weather.

I have been known to blow hot and cold depending on the circumstances and to brighten up--again, depending on the circumstances.

Sometimes things are clear as a bell, and I am traveling on cloud nine.  Other times things cloud my judgment and I can be as cold as ice.  These cold snaps can be followed by dry spells especially when blown off by fair-weather friends who sometimes freeze me out.

When I am more optimistic, I can have my head in the clouds and life’s a breeze, but lightning fast, someone can knock the wind out of me.

Sometimes I am so busy that I have to give you a rain check, and sometimes life rains on my parade leading to rainy day blues.  Those are the times when I search for a ray of sunshine.

I have been known to skate on thin ice, and that’s usually when troubles begin to snowball until I am snowed under. 

I’ve noticed that people don’t like it when you steal their thunder.  They are likely to storm out on you, but that might just be their stormy personalities.  They like to take the world by storm and throw caution to the wind.  Sometimes they throw shade while doing it.

On those occasions when I am under the weather or weathering the storms, I think I might like to move to Sesame Street where they really know what people need. On Sesame Street they chase the clouds away, and it’s always a sunny day.  Soooooo, while we’ve got the ideal conditions, come on out and play!