YES, it’s a rainy Wednesday! I began writing this article Wednesday morning to ensure that I meet my Thursday afternoon deadline. Not that I ever miss my deadline – except for that one time when my days were mixed-up because I was traveling; it’s just that starting this second week of January, I am providing communications work for a client which means that I have an added deadline on top of the newspaper and talk show duties. One’s got to work to earn a living!
It has been a rainy week starting Sunday. Occasionally the sun is up but almost instantaneously it’s covered by clouds and the sky turns overcast once more. It’s quite gloomy and you know what a dreary day connotes. Like for instance, I must force myself to compose this article because the weather makes me lazy. Tell me about it! Some even call it “bed weather.”
Inspired by the thought, I tried researching on the effect of a gloomy day on individual behaviors and here’s what I found. In a study by Richard E. Lucas and Nicole M. Lawless, Does Life Seem Better on a Sunny Day? Examining the Association between Daily Weather Conditions and Life Satisfaction Judgments, “Simonsohn (2010) showed that people are more likely to enroll in an academically rigorous college if they visited that college on a cloudy day as compared to a sunny day. Other research shows that people behave more altruistically on sunny days than cloudy days (Cunningham, 1979) and even that stock market returns are higher on sunny days than on cloudy days (Hirshleifer & Shumway, 2003). Still other studies show that extreme heat can be linked with higher levels of aggressive behavior (Anderson, 1989).” Thus, according to the authors, “these studies show that weather can have a powerful effect on people’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior.” Say no more!
This study was done in the US but realistically, it is useful to anyone regardless of race. After all, we all experience moods, feelings. That’s what’s great about us humans: We are made of emotions, and I believe we haven’t even experienced the whole gamut of emotions up to present.
It’s perceived that a gloomy day triggers sadness, and nobody likes to be lonely, right? Loneliness is a bane to the empty nesters, the elderly, the widow, the widower, the separated, and more. As much as possible, we avoid loneliness, manage it, even drown it with whatever is available just so we don’t feel it, and it doesn’t help at all when the rains usher in a dark day casting shadow on us ordinary mortals! Blast the rain huh!
Still, we strive to live another day. Human beings are also tenacious. Whatever the odds, even if man-made – even more, we face it.
But of course, the more disturbing outcome of continuous rains are flooding and landslides, and the entire day today – as I penned this article, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) flooded my mobile phone with Alert Messages about the unceasing rains and their possible impact.
I must admit it’s instructive for NDRRMC to send us these alerts because, well, it provides guidance and creates a safety consciousness in our heads. Knowing Filipinos, we are not born with safety awareness. We become aware and vigilant only after we are hit by a disaster. Now, government is more responsive to weather conditions and its effects on people and property hence these advisories. From conversations in-between writing, I am happy to note that people’s mindsets are really attuned to safety now. Kudos to this growing mindfulness!
I just realized as I am ending this article that a rainy day is not really that bad. True it evokes unpleasant emotions, but it also inspires. I wouldn’t have written and completed this article if not of the day-long rain.
The rains bring you back to a certain period in your life where either you want to revisit or totally forget. The pitter-patter gently reminded me of a time about a decade ago when life was tough, but inspiration was vast. I must have allowed myself to reminisce the good old days because I have written this piece. Perhaps I should call Melody, the depository of all my stories, haha!
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Writer hosts Woman Talk with Belinda Sales at 91.1 Balita FM Tagbilaran City every Saturday, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. She can be reached at belindabelsales@gmail.com. Twitter @ShilohRuthie./PN
