Daylight

Daylight is back!  But it came with unseasonably warm temperatures and I don’t know how I feel about it.  I’m conflicted, which is my usual state of affairs.  Summer and Winter are very different seasons with very different activities for me.  And I am, I guess, grieving the sudden loss of some of my winter activities.

I love summer.  I really do.  I need the sunlight and I love the sunlight.  I am a sunlight fein.  Unfortunately, I am also a melanoma survivor which means I have to be careful in the sunlight.  I have to wear hats, use UV Shampoo and Conditioner, wear SPF skin tints and lip balms, and put SPF on every square inch of my body that might get some sunlight.  I also have a predisposition to easily overheating which can cause migraines and episodes of vertigo.  So you see even though I love the sunlight and need the sunlight, I actually stay indoors more in the warm summer sunshine months.  If I do hike, play golf, or go for walks it is usually early in the mornings.  I tend to shift to doing more dance and barre and pilates since they are indoor activities.  My outside time is usually sitting on a patio in the shade or walking around town with friends in a cute dress.

Winter is my true outdoor time.  I will hike, climb, and explore anything and everything when it is cold outside.  I still have to wear SPF, but not as much of me is exposed.  I can go much longer and farther since overheating is not a concern.  I just throw on some gear and go.  Winter has always been my favorite time of the year until I started getting Seasonal Affective Disorder.  I had a little bit of it this year, but I made a concerted effort to mentally and emotionally enjoy winter since it is my time to explore the outdoors.  I have always wanted to live in the pacific northwest - it has always been a dream destination of mine.  I just don’t know if I would survive now, but I am determined to take back my love of winter.

I have always thought we have the time change backwards.  Don’t we need less light in the summer time to help cool off the insanely hot temperatures and more light in the winter to help us survive the crazy cold temperatures and overcast skies?  I just think it makes more sense to flip the whole daylight savings thing.

Daylight savings and Spring is about new - new blooms, new life, new everything.  And I am hoping this spring brings some much needed new in my life.  Specifically, a new opportunity, some new friends, and while I am not looking for a man,  I would’t be bent out of shape if one showed up, probably more surprised and caught off guard than anything. I honestly wouldn’t know what to do with one.   I am just more focused on fixing my finances, and fixing my body at the moment.  It seems I am part squirrel and put on weight every winter and get it all back off by every fall.  I need to figure out how to not be a marshmallow in the summer months.  One could also deduce, that my putting on weight as soon as I start to look like a snack could also be a form of self protection.  It is true I feel safer if I think I ‘m not attractive and less safe if I am looking like a snack.  But this is a story for another day.

I hope everyone is enjoying the new light, the new blooms and all the new that finds each one of you!