All You Need Is Sun
For those that are new here I used to work as a college mathematics instructor. The first semester lecturing a class on my own, I had one student who hailed from Brazil. Very bright, intelligent, outgoing, somewhat traditional, and prideful for an 18-year-old (due to the success of all those Brazilian super models at the time). I remember she was talking about her upbringing in Brazil and how there was no shortage of sunshine, and incidentally, how she would leave her house in the morning and be out until the evening having stopped by visiting other homes of family and friends all day. She was like, 'You know the sun... It's proven to make people happier.' To add further context, where we were living at the time was not as sunny.
This makes me think of a saying, colloquialism, or quote about sunshine. Something to the effect of the sun's ability to bleach or sanitize anything...including one's mood. As in, by spending time in the sun every day, one can help take their mood from bad to good.
Shoot, I can remember when I was 22 years old, working as an engineer, I had to wear this clean room suite on the job.
Underneath all that garb were scrubs and a hair net (the clean room I worked in was WAY cleaner than an operating room). The rubber band on the hair net was causing me to break out on my forehead. Because I had bangin' health insurance at the time, I scheduled an appointment with a dermatologist. A man in this early mid 60's, and very different from today's 60-year-olds on average let me tell you. Anyway we talked at his desk, then he got up and approached my forehead to take a quick look. Soon enough, after returning back behind his desk, he told me three things. Do not touch my forehead throughout the day. When I wash my face during the day, use soap rather than just water. And drum roll please... Get some SUN!
Touch wood, it worked. Man I hope I don't jinx myself now. Writing about my positive experiences tends to do that... Yikes!
As I write this, it is late spring approaching summer. It's 83 degrees F and partly sunny outside. Around 50% humidity. Really nice weather. But it doesn't always have to be. If the sun is out in the winter, or fall, it'll do nearly just the same.
In a way, it can help clear your mind. It can keep you even keeled. The heat and intensity of its light will make you hot, perhaps sweaty, perhaps even burn you slightly. Humbling you, bringing your mind back down to earth. Or, its light can warm you up when you are cold. It can elevate your mind from being in a proverbial dark and damp basement, to a space that is warm, welcoming, and inviting. Full of people, places, things, and philosophies that are nothing but uplifting and encouraging.
A friend of mine from northern California once ask me the following. 'Doesn't the sun just wake you up in the morning and get you out of bed...?' I didn't want to disappoint him by saying no 'cause I have blinds to darken my room. Also, he knows I'm a night owl so what the hay... But I think what he was getting at was the sun was always so strong and brilliant when he was in cali that when it came out you really had no choice but to wake up. And that sounds beautiful to me.
It’s summertime. But even if it's wintertime. Make sure you schedule some time in the sun every day. Five to ten minutes is all it really takes to tickle your body to produce all the vitamin-d you'll need. But more so, it's your mental health that stands to gain a huge benefit. Giving you the strength to tackle the rest of your day with the gusto.
Something so simple yet so overlooked. It often is the simple things in life that deserve the most attention to get right. To produce a life that is worth living. Even when things are dark. In this case, the sun will eradicate the darkness. Sterilizing your mind removing the majority of, if not all negative thought processes.
OK, I'll leave you with this one. Once upon a time, I considered applying to a few jobs I found in Formula 1. The Formula 1! Why? Cause I found some aerodynamicist job openings. Specifically, computation fluid dynamics which I have a significant background in, and I had the majority of the prerequisites they listed. Actually, one team folded, and the other became very dominant winning many consecutive championships. Anyway, for those that are unaware, F1 is the UK, or United Kingdom. As in, the majority of the F1 industry is in England which would require me to relocate. So I started asking the people I knew who had lived there, or did at that time, what the climate is like. Because every time I would watch the British Grand Prix in early July, dudes would be there with their shirts off in overcast 60 degree F weather. Which was odd.
One person I asked had lived in Ireland for an extended period of time. As the story goes, she went into a small grocery store. Saw the headlines of the local papers on the news stand. They all indicated that there had been a record number of suicides due to it being overcast and gloomy every day. For over three months straight.
I was like, nah. I'm good.
Vive le soleil...!
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