One of my favourite songs of all time is Mr Blue Sky, by The Electric Light Orchestra – ELO. It appears on their Out of the Blue album on the third side, which is entitled Concerto for a Rainy Day. It’s the last song on the side, so after three songs about rain, it ends on a high note.

Sun is shinin’ in the sky
There’s not a cloud in sight
It’s stopped rainin;, everybody’s in the play
And don’t you know
It’s a beautiful new day?

I felt like that this morning when I looked out and saw a clear pale blue sky, the sunlight dancing over the daffodils and there, rising above the neighbour’s trees, a hot air balloon.

I don’t know about you, but my mood definitely responds to the weather. Just recently, we seem to have had a period of what I call “no weather” days, when the sky is a uniform grey, the temperatures are neither warm nor cold and everything seems to be on hold. I did find that it affected my mood. It doesn’t help that I seem to be in a holding pattern myself, waiting to hear back from several jobs I’ve applied for, not knowing if I’ll even get an interview. It’s easier to be optimistic when the sun is shining, to believe that the right job will come along when the time is right.

The days are growing longer too, and today was the first day I didn’t need to switch on the light when I came down into the kitchen at 6.30am. After this weekend, when the clocks go forward, the evenings will be noticeably longer too. Those who love to garden will be able to get out and plant things. Already, my husband has things growing in pots inside, just waiting to go out once all risk of frost has gone. He is talking about mowing the lawn. We saw one of our neighbours already mowing his on Sunday – but then he has the neatest garden around – he puts us to shame. 

Yet spring does not affect everyone in the same way. Statistically, more people take their own lives in late spring and early summer – perhaps because everything around them is blooming, yet their own mood is just as dark as ever and they feel even more hopeless. 

I’m on some medication now that seems to be working, and I haven’t had a manic/depressive episode for two years. Before that, I aways seemed to get a depression in late spring or early summer. I remember lying on the sofa shivering under a blanket all through that really hot spell we had in 2022, with the temperature outside reaching 40 degrees.

I’d be interested to know how you react to spring, sunshine and daffodils. Does it lift your spirits, or does it make no difference at all?

Mary

A Moodscope member