Letting the sun steer the flow of my day
One of the best life-hacks I found for myself
Before I get into the thoughts of today, I was wondering:
Do you prefer me to write from my “I-perspective” or would you rather read advice-like “you-perspective” posts?
In the case of today’s title, would: “Letting the sun steer the flow of YOUR day” be better?
I am genuinely interested in that, because I personally do not feel like I want to tell you how to live your life; it feels a bit invasive without having been asked for advice.
However, what I hear in the writing world is, that we always need to have the reader in mind and address them with “you”, so they feel acknowledged and get “something out of the newsletter”.
So, feel free to comment or shoot me a message :), till then I will continue my less-invasive approach, knowing that you seem to want to read my words as you subscribed! Thank you soooo much for that!
Now: off to how I let the sun steer the flow of my day!
I have always loved the sun, feeling its warmth on my skin and being outside when it is shining brightly.
I remember always being drawn to get out the second it got warm enough for t-shirts and shorts especially, so as much skin was exposed to it as much as possible.
I used to use sunscreen way back then, but not anymore, and I never liked sunglasses. It felt off to see the world in wrong colors.
Temperatures up to 25C are ideal for me, above that it gets too warm, I stop functioning properly :D.
Now that I live in the North of Sweden, the sun is even more special. We don’t have darkness right now; actually we just passed the longest day of the year, midsummer!
In winter we have a lot of darkness & cold & snow, but still 3-4 hours of light. How do I manage that, as I love the sun so much?
I love winter & snow equally :D. It is an interesting balance and I feel that my body and mind go through very clear changes over the year, cos the seasons are so distinguished.
So now, with summer being here, I am outside as much as possible, especially when the sun is shining.
Yes, I also work, but as I work from home & have my own company & a super flexible remote job, I can decide what I do, when and where.
In short, this is how the sun steers my day:
I take long lunch walks with my dog, in the sunshine (also in winter)
The first walk of our day is our sun-walk, a specific track along the river, so that we walk towards the rising, shining sun, as few clothes as possible.
I adjust my work tasks according to how the sun shines into my apartment: desktop-computer-tasks in the morning in my living room, laptop-tasks in the afternoon on my balcony, when the sun shines into it.
If its cloudy, I walk anyways, but dress to stay warm and sometimes decide to work from a cafe to change my surroundings, catching the sun on the walk back ;)
I generally also sleep on my balcony in the summer, so I have the feeling to be outdoors all the time. I cover my eyes with a scarf to help my body realize its dark, melatonin and such, but I generally can sleep even in brightness.
I also adjust which day I work. I usually stick to the 5 work days & 2 weekend days, BUT if the sun is shining sooo much during the week, I will work fewer and instead work on the rainy weekend.
Over the years doing that, I noticed how good this is for me.
Not just for my physical body, my skin etc, but also for my mental and emotional bodies, surely my spiritual one as well, as I feel much more connected to nature and my surrounding.
I also feel that I honor myself and my needs more, as well as the seasons and what they bring with them.
Cos even in the cold winter: with my dog I walk outside several times a day and doing that in the hours of light, sets me up to a fitting rhythm that suits me.
I also regularly read up on health-related topics and the newest science about what works for our bodies etc & I am keeping track of how all that aligns with me and my life.
This is why I am so happy to observe that the sun finally starts to not be seen as the cancer-causing devil it used to be called, but an essential energy source for us humans, and crucial for our health and well-being.
Especially with this topic, I am glad I have listened to my body more than the fear-mongering bullpoop that has been going on, cos my body seemed to always have known that sun exposure does me well.
Yes, yes, no sunburns of course. But we humans need sunshine, just as much as plants need it to grow and do photosynthesis.
This also makes me suspicious whenever there are “Let’s block the sun”-initiatives on earth, because they are malicious and dangerous, on all kinds of levels, there is NO justification for them.
Hahahaa, now I deviated :D, but to end on an encouraging note, and a bit of you-talk:
Whatever you observe to be genuinely good for your body: keep doing it! Collect the datapoints, assess your physical, mental, emotional & spiritual health & if you are thriving: keep on doing it!!
This is the basic approach of science, you use yourself as experimental grounds and you often know yourself better than you think ;)
Also: the same counts for bad & unhealthy habits, its possible to observe them too & change them ;)
Now that is it for today, I wish you an amazing, hopefully sunny & relaxed sunday & would love to hear your thoughts & experiences on this topic!
Love,
Daria