Grey Days

Grey day after grey day, our spirits sag. For many good reasons, human beings need sunlight and we crave it when deprived. It isn’t just the light from our sun, it’s the  sun’s warmth. Our friend Richard, who has lived in total darkness for thirty years, loves sunny days. He loves the warmth of the sun’s rays on his skin, and can sense when sunlight comes through the windows of his house.

One of sunlight’s many benefits is our skin’s production of endorphins, the natural opiates that cause us to exclaim, “I feel good!”  No wonder, then, that more than a month of grey days here in Kansas has many folks feeling sad. There’s even a condition known as SAD, season affective disorder. It’s treated by exposure to light.

This morning we were elated to see a clear sky at dawn, but clouds moved in and obscured the sunshine by mid-morning. Marianne and I were engrossed in making tamales, an activity for which we had little to no experience, and didn’t notice the change until we were finished. Here are a few of our products cooling.

I’ve concluded that keeping busy is the best way to compensate for the lack of sunshine. Solitary activity is all right, but activities with family and friends keep our momentum going and are a lot more fun.  

It also helps, I think, to have bright spots of color in our lives. This is a poinsettia carried over from last winter. It spent the summer on the deck, with an occasional watering, and now is rewarding that little bit of care by blooming.

So, let the grey days come. We have ways of coping and we know that we’ve past the winter solstice, heading for spring and summer, when the sun will shine abundantly.

Copyright 2014 by Shirley Domer