“What jacket should I wear today?” I wonder as I open the weather app to learn I have to change into shorts and ditch the jacket completely. Spring in the northeast is extremely unpredictable, and it has impacts far beyond what we wear each day.
Fifty degrees in the spring feels completely different than fifty degrees in the fall, despite being the same meteorological value. Fifty degrees in the fall brings a chill to the air and represents a finite end to comfortably enjoying warm outdoor activities. This also typically coincides with midterms. However, fifty degrees in the spring represents new beginnings and typically occurs right after midterms. The most notable example of this phenomenon is when outdoor spaces become cluttered with students on the first nice days of the spring semester. Stevens students crowd Schaefer Lawn with picnic blankets, frisbees, footballs, and any outdoor activities they can think of. If you swing by during the afternoon on a warm day, you may even see hammocks hanging between trees! Campus starts to feel alive in a way it feels impossible to during the colder months as thousands of students decrease their Vitamin D deficiencies. I love walking outside after classes and catching up with friends under the sun.
However, those glorious summer-eqsue days can disappear at the blink of an eye, and the joy spreading across campus will be overtaken by wind gusts and dropping temperatures. Lawn blankets turn into heated blankets, and seats in the library become sparsely available. These abrupt changes in the forecast not only impact what we wear each day, but also how we feel and our motivation levels. For me, a warm spring day helps me wake up earlier and stay moving, and depending on my schedule may lead to a late afternoon/early evening run along the pier. But when the temps drop down into the forties and the wind picks up, outdoor camaraderie disappears. My mood plummets when I look ahead on a seventy-degree day to see a low in the thirties for the next night, especially when the cold day would have been a great opportunity to enjoy the fresh air and the warm day was spent stuck indoors.
During these periods of time where you never know what to expect, it’s good to develop strategies that can distract from the changing weather conditions. Here are some ways to stay motivated when you feel like the weather is stealing your spark:
- Sit next to windows – this can trick you into feeling like you’re outside even when it’s too cold to stay still for more than five minutes
- Treat yourself – find whatever brightens your day and reward yourself for making it through a hard exam, lengthy project, or other major hurdle you’ve made progress overcoming!
- Find a study buddy – spending time with others can be a great way to boost your spirit while the weather is bringing it down, and you can both be productive (or unproductive) together!
If all else fails, even if you get pranked by fake spring, it means that summer is right around the corner!