First of all: as always, great article. Second: I wrote in my newsletter (sadly only in Brazilian Portuguese) how moving from Brazil to Germany has impacted me in many ways — of course — but the most tangible and measurable thing that changed my mood was (guess?) the weather. I arrived in the summer, so the sun was up at 5h and still qui…
Second: I wrote in my newsletter (sadly only in Brazilian Portuguese) how moving from Brazil to Germany has impacted me in many ways — of course — but the most tangible and measurable thing that changed my mood was (guess?) the weather.
I arrived in the summer, so the sun was up at 5h and still quite sunny at 21h —ridiculous. I was getting tired without the feeling the day was over because the freaking sun was still up. While my German colleagues were quasi-naked, enjoying this crazy phenomenon, in Brazil, independent of the season, the sun goes up around 6h and down around 17h. Most Brazilians understand the term "the day looks like 16h", which means grey, sad — the day is ending — and happy — the shift is ending.
In Germany, here I am working, without getting why I feel so tired, and BAM: it's already 20h, and I didn't realise it because the sun is up and shining.
Fade out.
Fade in. WINTER. I thought I knew what suffering was, but I didn't.
How do people smile when the sun is up for so few hours? Oh, right, we're in Germany; people don't smile here. German winter made techno make sense to me, all angry and violent. Snow isn't my problem, but the lack of sun killed me. I wake up "at night" and leave the office "at night", mostly wanting to lay down and cry because the whole day "looks like 16h".
In conclusion, I'd like to see a study in which people talk about the happiness of people that moved countries, especially from bright and sunny ones to cold and glum, and the other way around, and if that impacts our happiness. Either way, it affected MINE. I spent last month in Brazil, and I felt fucking happy — and coated in sweat, but that's life.
The problem with such studies is that moving changes *so much else* in our lives — as I'm sure you've experienced ! — and I'm guessing it's really hard to tease apart the effects. Still, it could be valuable.
And I fully sympathize with your story. Even I, who live in a northern temperate place, once experiences days far shorter than I was used to when I lived in Sweden, and... yeah, when the month of November has a total of 12 hours of sunlight — for the whole month! — it certainly does something to your soul.
First of all: as always, great article.
Second: I wrote in my newsletter (sadly only in Brazilian Portuguese) how moving from Brazil to Germany has impacted me in many ways — of course — but the most tangible and measurable thing that changed my mood was (guess?) the weather.
I arrived in the summer, so the sun was up at 5h and still quite sunny at 21h —ridiculous. I was getting tired without the feeling the day was over because the freaking sun was still up. While my German colleagues were quasi-naked, enjoying this crazy phenomenon, in Brazil, independent of the season, the sun goes up around 6h and down around 17h. Most Brazilians understand the term "the day looks like 16h", which means grey, sad — the day is ending — and happy — the shift is ending.
In Germany, here I am working, without getting why I feel so tired, and BAM: it's already 20h, and I didn't realise it because the sun is up and shining.
Fade out.
Fade in. WINTER. I thought I knew what suffering was, but I didn't.
How do people smile when the sun is up for so few hours? Oh, right, we're in Germany; people don't smile here. German winter made techno make sense to me, all angry and violent. Snow isn't my problem, but the lack of sun killed me. I wake up "at night" and leave the office "at night", mostly wanting to lay down and cry because the whole day "looks like 16h".
In conclusion, I'd like to see a study in which people talk about the happiness of people that moved countries, especially from bright and sunny ones to cold and glum, and the other way around, and if that impacts our happiness. Either way, it affected MINE. I spent last month in Brazil, and I felt fucking happy — and coated in sweat, but that's life.
The problem with such studies is that moving changes *so much else* in our lives — as I'm sure you've experienced ! — and I'm guessing it's really hard to tease apart the effects. Still, it could be valuable.
And I fully sympathize with your story. Even I, who live in a northern temperate place, once experiences days far shorter than I was used to when I lived in Sweden, and... yeah, when the month of November has a total of 12 hours of sunlight — for the whole month! — it certainly does something to your soul.