I’m from the equator. We don’t have seasons where I’m from. It’s taken me a long time to get a feel of the seasons and the rhythm of life. It still isn’t intuitive.
Bad: I struggle at this time every year because of how short the days are. Things will only get better from here, but it’s hard.
Good: I’m prepping beets and beet greens, and chard that I got from the farmers’ market. Food is cheap and nutritious (I go right before they drive back to Salinas). It gives me a sense of the seasons.
What’s the rhythm of life in a place without the four seasons? Where I’ve lived and spent most of my time: life is broken into the monsoons. You haven’t experienced tropical life until you’ve been inside a nice warm tropical home, waiting out the rains. The rains aren’t fierce and cold, like they are elsewhere. The rains are warm and mostly friendly. Most times anyway. The rains bring good things, like mangoes.
My wife grew up in France, despite being also from the equator, but I didn’t. I don’t associate Christmas with specific weather, nor anything with weather.
But I feel the shortening of the days acutely: that the sun isn’t on ‘full blast’ from sunrise to sunset is something that deeply unsettles my brain and my soul. When I wake up and it’s dark and foggy, I get very sad.
I’m used to sweating gently when I wake up, and to warmth in general. I’m getting used to not having it, but my soul is not
My favorite ‘we have no seasons!’ Story about growing up 1 deg north of the equator:
My family believed for a long time that we were allergic to winter. Every time we went somewhere cold, we were incredibly itchy.
One day, I announced (after googling this): WE HAVE TO MOISTURIZE WHEN WE GO TO COLD PLACES!!
Winter travel has been much better since for everyone.
@skinnylatte I'm allergic to summer, is there a way to remove moisturizer from my body when I travel to warm places?
@saraislet do what we do, drink boiling temp liquids constantly all day when it’s really hot out (which is all the time)