Picture this: it’s a beautiful sunny day. The air is warm, there’s a lovely breeze, and it smells like the perfect day to go outside. From the moment you opened your curtains in the morning, the great outdoors beckoned you. Mother Nature is clearly sending you a message. There’s a problem, though: you don’t actually want to go outside. You have a lot to do which limits your free “wander around” time. You have assignments to complete, a shift to work, and plans with your friends to watch a movie. The ways in which you planned on taking care of your mental health today did not include time outside, but you feel like you need to go outside. I mean, it’s a nice day, so you have to go outside… right?
If this thought process sounds familiar to you, it’s because you have experienced what TikToker Gabe Esco called “good weather guilt”, though the term may have been coined before his use of it. Regardless of origin, good weather guilt is the phenomenon that some people describe when the weather is particularly nice and would lend itself well to time outdoors. That said, sometimes other factors ranging from scheduling conflicts to a simple lack of interest make it difficult or impossible to go outside on a nice day. In these circumstances, not participating in good-weather-day activities such as a walk/run, doing work outside, playing a sport, reading, etc. can leave a person feeling like they’ve just squandered an opportunity. Noah Kahan, singer and songwriter of the album Stick Season which details the highs and lows of mental health struggles among other things, has been known to say those who enjoy his music should “go buy a Vitamin D lamp” (I myself was at a concert of his when he made this reference, which contributed to my inspiration for this piece). I, like many others, feel pressure to go outside and enjoy the weather when it’s nice out, even if that isn’t exactly how I’d like to spend my time.
I’m studying in Edinburgh for the semester, a notoriously rainy city in Scotland, farther north than my home institution of Colby College in Maine. Sunny days here are a rarity and are marked by parks full of people, cafes’ outdoor seating full to the brim, and beer gardens active far earlier in the day than I would expect. I am a person whose mood is very influenced by the weather, so having a sunny day is something I value, and has recently allowed me to practice some coping skills so that the time I spend outside is time I actually want to spend outside. Here are my recommendations:
- You are the master of your own time. You know what you like and you know your limits. If going outside does not align well with the vision of how you want/need to spend your day, then don’t go outside.
- Try a little excursion like a chore or store run so that you can get some exposure while still being productive, and if you can manage to take a longer route on the way there or back to enjoy the weather, feel free to do so! Being productive or just getting a little sun is better than none at all.
- Check in with yourself about why you don’t want to go outside. Do you have work that you’re worried about and need to get done first? Are you self-conscious about how you’re being perceived? Are you overstimulated and adding sun to the equation would just make things worse? Some of these are absolutely valid reasons not to go out but often need to be addressed in other ways. Make sure you’re not depriving yourself of experiences you want to have just because you struggle to let yourself have them.
- For my neurodivergent friends especially: Bring headphones, sunglasses, and layers! Nothing can ruin a nice day like overstimulation, so a lot of people who have sensitivities struggle most with enjoying themselves outside on nice days. There are usually more people, more noise, more light, and just more. Some of these sensory issues can be rectified, but if you’re having an especially bad sensory day, stay in and take it easy.
- There will always be more sunny days! This is not your only opportunity to go outside and enjoy yourself. If the cards are just simply not aligned for a certain day, that’s perfectly fine. The sun may not come out tomorrow but it will come out eventually, so be patient and give yourself some grace to do what you actually want to do.
- Can’t muster the strength to sit outside? No problem! Sit by a window and take in the good weather from inside. If you’ve got classes, try to sit by the window, or just do your work for the day in a window-filled locale. I’ve found this is easier for me to stomach than going full-blown mountain man and thrusting myself into nature, and it makes doing my tasks a little more joyful.
I’d also like to say that this may all sound silly to you if you’ve never experienced good weather guilt. To be quite honest, I envy those who don’t have some backward, twisted interpretation of days with lovely weather. In a perfect world, everyone would be able to enjoy nice weather without feeling pressure to perform or act a certain way. So if you have no idea what I’m talking about, yet you’ve made it to this point in the piece, I hope you can support friends or family who demonstrate some complex relationships with sunny weather and blue skies. The effects of funky thought processes are widespread, and receiving support for even the seemingly silly effects can be very helpful. Here are some thoughts I have if you know someone who has good weather guilt (or things you can ask for from your support system if you yourself have it):
- Avoid language or insinuations that you need to take advantage of a day because it’s sunny; you can suggest it, but try not to force it, and if a person seems uncomfortable then drop it
- If you want to go outside and enjoy the weather but another person doesn’t want to, still go! That person likely doesn’t want to hold you back from going out, they just can’t go out themselves, so leave them be and go carpe your own diem
- Suggest simple outdoor tasks if you know this person is generally made happier by the sun like a grocery store or hardware store trip so they still feel productive and can test the waters of a sunny day, so to speak, before committing to an outdoor-specific task
- Be cognizant of your neurodivergent buddies, sometimes sunny days or lots of people can be especially overwhelming and overstimulating so have extra patience when suggesting outings with them and take steps to ensure they’re comfortable
Moral of the story: don’t go outside if you don’t want to. There are measures you can take to help with the discomfort that might accompany going outdoors and usually dissuade you from venturing out, but at the end of the day, you are the master of how you spend your free time. Good weather does not necessitate frolicking through fields or staring dead into the sun (although you shouldn’t do that no matter what); there will always be more nice days and there will always be another opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. You don’t have to feel guilty for choosing to spend your free time however you choose to spend it.