Last week, the National Weather Service predicted that April showers in Central Ohio could bring … May showers.
We who counted on the May word being “flowers” immediately started moaning and groaning.
“I cannot beleeeeeeve we have another month of this,” I started whining.
“I knoooooooow,” said my neighbor, from across the pond that used to be a driveway.
“When will it STOP?” we cried.
What we didn’t realize at the time was that we needn’t have been so grumpy. According to a 2008 study of 1,200+ Europeans, impressively titled “The Effects of Weather on Daily Mood: A Multilevel Approach,” weather grumpiness is very individual. Some people actually like lots of rain. Good weather has a minimal effect on positive mood. And the average effect of weather on mood is minimal.
Who knew.
It’s disconcerting to feel like a worse-than-average grump. So as with all studies where I don’t land with the majority, I set out to understand why.
“They didn’t ask the right questions,” I told my daughter.
“What do you mean?” asked she, a confirmed rain-lover.
“They obviously just asked about rain, which conjures up images of sipping tea and listening to rain on the roof. They should have asked, ‘How does it affect your mood when water bubbles up into your shoes?’
She was so unimpressed with my survey savvy that I didn’t pass along my other suggested questions:
How is your mood when you wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of a sump pump?
How is your mood when you’re wading around in the basement because you didn’t wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of a sump pump?
And how is your mood when the runoff from your brilliantly designed roof digs an eleven-inch pit along the front sidewalk?
Even with my questions, it remains disturbingly possible that the study is right and I’m just grumpier than most. This occurred to me when my daughter-in-law called to report how amazing it was to have her backyard underwater.
“I can look right out the kitchen window and watch blue herons catching fish!” she enthused. You’d have thought someone just gave her a free trip to the Galapagos Islands.
My version would have been, “OMG! We’re now living in the wetlands!” And I’d have been off to the hardware store for one of those radios you power with a crank.
Following her lead and inspired by these hardy Europeans, I’ve resolved to take on a more positive weather perspective for the month of May. It will go something like this:
Yay! It’s supposed to rain! Let’s take the recycling out early and get the bins washed clean for free!
Chance of precipitation: 100%! This is wonderful! What an opportunity to get my raincoat waterproofed (again)!
At last! Those Rubber Rose Skull Cowboy Wellies have my name written all over them!
If I’m still in a funk, I’ll eat some dark chocolate. Another study said to be “double-blind, randomized and placebo-controlled,” concluded that chocolate for sure will enhance your mood if you intend that it will. And that will be my absolute intention.
Copyright 2011 Pat Snyder
