As I’ve mentioned on this here blog a few times, I moved from the Midwest to the Mountain West a few years ago. The city we lived in back east (Can I say “back east?” I mean, the Midwest is east of where I am now.) was in most respects great for us.
Most.
In one area, however, it most definitelycertainlyabsolutely100% suuuuucccckkkked.
Weather.
Weathering sleights
The winters were long and brutal. The summers were suffocating and for this humidity-despising blogger, worse than the winters. The autumns were at best tolerable and at worst a chance for Mother Nature to test out her nastiest stuff for the oncoming winter. And the “springs?” Ha! What springs? My part of the Midwest didn’t get no no stinkin’ springs!
So it should come as no surprise that among the handful of major reasons I wanted to move away from the Midwest, better weather was at or near the top. And after bitterly complaining about the weather — which I know and am the first to acknowledge that there wasn’t a thing I could do about except, perhaps to have regularly burned styrofoam so as to bring on global warming a bit more quickly — for at least 10 years a while, we finally pulled the trigger.
Our new home out West has almost everything I could ask for weatherwise. Way better winters. Infinitely better summers. Generally wonderful autumns. And . . . springs! The area is one in which Mother Nature is known to, out of the blue, throw temper tantrums of epic magnitude. But the weather here otherwise suits me just fine.
Orb-it
But of all the things I love about the weather here as compared to the Midwest, there’s one that stands out more than the others. That’s really saying something, because there are a lot of “others” that make me as giddy as a 3-year old with a lollipop. And what is that one thing, you ask, Dear Reader? Sunshine.
In the Midwest, the sun is like a cruel lover. One day (or, gasp!, sometimes two or three days) it showers you with its warm, bright glow. Then it goes away. Often for days. Sometimes for weeks at a time in the winter. Your replacement view is monochromatic. Steel-gray. When the sun again comes into view, you’re so desperate for it that even if it’s just visible for an hour, or if only blue sky, but not the sun itself, is visible, you get down on your knees and cry sweet tears of joy.
I finally admitted to myself in the early aughts that I suffer from seasonal affective disorder. Ironically, that condition has the most apropos abbreviation ever: SAD. I dunno if it got worse with each passing year, but it sure didn’t get better.
Autumns, winters, and springs — which, for those of you not hitherto counting, together constitute 3/4 of the year — became a time period when I’d have to slog it out with SAD. Knowing that my sour mood could sometimes make me a bear to be around, I’d have to consistently make a conscious effort to not being everyone else around me down. I often failed.
In my part of the Mountain West, sunshine is abundant all year. And I’ve found that my mood and mental health have done a 180. The only days I’m a bit blue are those rare ones on which the sun makes no visible appearance. Those days are relatively few. And my down mood comes naturally. It’s not like I see cloudy skies and affect a sad mindset.
A marked difference is that out here, I know that the sun almost always will come out in a day or three. In the Midwest, how long the sun would play its hide-and-go-seek game was anyone’s guess. All I knew was that when the sun plays hide-and-go-seek in the Midwest, it plays to win.
A change is gonna do you good
What’s this got to do with personal finance? Plenty.
In the Midwest, I’d thought about taking measures to deal with my SADness. Measures that would have cost monies. Maybe whole bunches of monies. And maybe requiring me to have taken time away from doing enjoyable things to instead visit with a mental health professional. Every year. Blllleeeeeccchhhh.
Instead, I discovered, all I really needed was for Dr. Sun to prescribe me a head-smacking dose of its cure-all elixir. And not for nothing, aside from the moving costs incurred in our move out West — which were, for this FI-focused bloke, eye-watering — this treatment comes 100% free to me. Nor does it cost any insurance companies or governments anything. Not a dime. And it’s 100% effective.
Also, when it’s sunny, I’m way more inclined to go outside and soak up the sun’s Vitamin D-rich goodness. And to be physically active, which I hope keeps me fittish and less susceptible to contracting some illness or other. Or, you know, dying. Dying, I have found, is bad for one’s earning potential. Well, at least that’s the case for most dead people. But not all.
The principle here is applicable widely. Something in your life making you sad? Angry? Frustrated? And is that something costing you monies (or might it) to boot? Well, maybe it’s time to try to deal with it head on if you’ve not already. And if you have tried dealing with it and been unsuccessful to date, maybe it’s time to try a new approach. Or at least try some new and/or creative thinking.
Sometimes that might take some money or effort, or both. But if the longer-term consequences are greater happiness and well-being and lower expenses to boot, then it seems to me a worthwhile endeavor if possible to pursue it.
And in the end . . .
Dear Reader, I had reason to believe that a change in weather and scenery would do me good. However, I didn’t realize how impactful it’d really be. But there’s no denying it. The abundant sunshine makes me feel all warm and Fozzy.
I never even realized the impact that weather and climate had on my mood until, for the first time in my life, I moved away from the East Coast. I had just accepted sweaty, humid summers and gray winters as a fact of life. Granted, I moved to Hawaii, which tends to elevate anybody’s mood, but it was like a lightbulb went on – omg, crappy weather is optional? Now, weather is a dealbreaker for plenty of other places that might otherwise be nice places to live. And like you said, places with lovely weather often have unending free outdoor activities, which saves a ton of money. Once you get used to spending your weekends hiking to amazing viewpoints, snorkeling with amazing fish, lounging on beautiful beaches, or going for leisurely bike rides, you just kind of scratch your heads at all the folks who spend their weekends at the mall.
I’d been told by people that once I experienced the better climate I’d ask myself why I didn’t move sooner. They were spot on.