Like most other students, school-day mornings are a struggle for me. My eyes are half open, my feet drag to my first class and my mind is filled with dread over stressors like upcoming quizzes and tests.
Out of everything I encounter in my mornings, the weather influences my mood the most. Yet, contrary to popular belief, it’s not always the warm sunshine that lifts my spirits. Instead, I prefer seeing the mountains shrouded in fog outside my window, feeling a slight breeze and maybe the scent of the fresh rain.
Don’t get me wrong — my mood sours when the clouds unleash rain storms and cause feet-drenching puddles every few feet. I prefer the low-hanging clouds that seem to cling around the trees and fade in and out of view like something out of a dream.
In addition, foggy mornings are most common in the winter, right at the end of the first semester. The calm atmosphere of fog starts my morning right during this time of high stress. The gray mist creates a sense of temporary bleakness that will soon lift into sunny weather in the following hours. I perceive it as the day waking up alongside me.
Occasionally, I do enjoy sunny mornings, but the bright light shining through my windows usually wakes me up too early. The radiance gives me an intense burst of energy, leading to a mental crash later in the day. I prefer the gentle transition of a foggy morning to afternoon sunshine.
Some may think fog conveys feelings of gloom, but I love the landscape of forest green trees against a bleak, gray backdrop. I can always see the distant trees behind the school, while walking through the quad each morning.
The way the fog hugs the mountains creates an ethereal nature scene, one straight out of those “1-hour relaxing piano music with nature background” YouTube videos. If I close my eyes, I might even be able to hear a note or two.
When I was younger, the sun was often depicted as a yellow circle with ten rays and a smiling face, while clouds had stick figures below them with droopy and frowning faces. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that the weather doesn’t always have to be bright and sunny for me to be happy.
There’s happiness in the small and quiet moments too, like walking into school in the morning and seeing nature in its most magical state.
