Tuning in to Nature

I’m very affected by weather. Rainy days make me tired. Sunny days give me energy. I can feel air pressure changes in my ears frequently with the damage done from my chronic ear infections. The weather can affect my mood just as much as the temperature outside can affect my blood sugars. I experience SADS when it’s winter dreary and dark. Despite my best efforts, I am affected by nature, and have learned to accept that and roll with it as needed and just listen to what my body needs as the barometer changes.

A friend of mine shares a similar experience and as we discussed it she told me one of her friends said he felt it was a weakness to be so affected by weather. It was a sign of “weak character or a weak internal self” according to him.

As we discussed his opinion, I personally feel like that is a common reaction for people to have when they find out how affected by weather and nature some people are, and it’s easy to label those kinds of people as “snow flakes” or “sensitive.”

So what if they are? Why is that bad?

I would probably self-identify as a sensitive person. Not in that I’m easily offended, in fact I’m quite the opposite. It takes a lot to offend me, and I’m certainly not afraid of conflict. But I am very aware of how things make me feel and I’m able to rationally evaluate if my reactions are relevant or if I’m reading into something too much. I have a lot of understanding for imperfection, being imperfect myself, and I leave space for people to shoot off their mouths and let go of it knowing that not everything said is relevant. Probably all as a result of hyper vigilance with a family that has a lot of mental health and anxiety disorders and seeing to survive with some sense of self-worth in tact, but also a good indicator that I have fought long and hard to have a great deal of self awareness and strong emotional intelligence.

When it comes to my physical being I’m constantly paying attention to how I feel. Diabetic issues have subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle physical signals of something going wrong. Noticing these things makes take care of myself before things get to a place of emergency. Stress, anxiety, pain, pleasure, and so many other factors can cause a myriad of physical reactions because of my chronic illness being unable to automatically regulate those things like they can in a healthy person. Not to say normal people don’t notice or feel sensations, but their bodies can chemically regulate them much more quickly and efficiently than mine can.

Because physical sensations can cause the body to have physical reactions, my diabetes often reacts to weather. For example, cold weather makes my blood sugars really high and hot weather gives me more low blood sugars. Being in tune with how those things make me physically feel are a part of life and death for me. It’s a survival skill to notice those things, and often a mood swing caused by a blood sugar fluctuation is a pretty good indicator something is up and needs addressing. Cold rainy days make my blood sugar go up and usually shows its self through excessive thirst, irritability, and exhaustion. Taking insulin, hydration, and a nap is a good answer to solving the blood sugar issue when I can’t go outside for a walk to exercise because of the bad weather. Usually a solid nap, drinking water, and/or a hot shower can help bring down my blood sugars a little too, though the nap tends to be most effective for me personally.

If those things are caused by “weak character or a weak internal self” then I suppose I’d be considered “weak” which isn’t uncommon for someone who is chronically ill with mental health issues to be labeled. But I ponder the phrasing and wonder what having “weak character or weal internal self’ actually means? It seems like it would be a very subjective judgment to pass on someone, especially without knowing them well or having a more solid foundation to your rationale. It’s very narrow view if you ask me, with a lot more complexity than portrayed in his statement.

I think the industrialization of western culture, religion, and probably overall colonialism is what has developed this idea of being affected by nature being a weakness. It’s seen as a strength to overcome and “have dominion” over or conquering nature as Judeo-Christian culture would lead us to believe, because we have developed to a point where culture seems to think we don’t need nature as much as we once did. Modern amenities, while often rooted in nature, feel so far away from nature that it is easy to think there is an overall separation that is not necessarily true. We have placed walls between us and nature so well, that we often forget how dependent we still are on the earth and our own instinct.

As the human race became less dependent on productivity being reliant on nature the idea of conquering nature was positively reinforced. The discovery of fire conquered darkness and cold so people didn’t let themselves sleep at night and could be warm and productive during the cold and dark winters. Electricity took it another step where there are places that operate all night long producing products that aren’t necessarily needed for life, but certainly make being “productive” easier, faster, and make more money. People sleep less than they used to and don’t necessarily rest when it’s dark, because there is a perception that we no longer need darkness to prevent us from doing things, and thus no longer need rest.

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead” has become a remarkably common figure of speech in Eurocentric cultures. Are people still tired? Sure, but it often doesn’t stop people from being “night owls” for the sake of productivity and fulfillment through entertainment or a social night life.

Capitalism doesn’t help this either. The more “productivity” out of a business, the more potential to make a profit. Then the more you can pay your overnight workers to keep the incentive to work the graveyard shift (that’s only if you’re a good employer mind you), and the deregulation of the body can certainly affect a human in more ways than one. As capitalism took root in western Eurocentric culture, we started to see industry boom, new discoveries, and the potential to do more with more tools and more technology. This obsession with productivity for the sake of commerce has taken its toll on the public as a whole, and with it has come the misconception that to have any sort of “primitive” or “primal” urges that are in sync with “human nature” (with an emphasis on the “nature” part) is uncivilized. Only “savages” and “third world” nations lived in tune with nature, because they lacked the philosophy, religion, and/or resources to conquer nature. Thus nature, over time, became obsolete to a majority of humanity and only associated with a lack of civilization and the negative feeling of being limited and thus less productive.

Now, it’s not uncommon for people to equate their whole identity with their productivity in their careers, and in doing so, one has to feel a sense of overcoming those natural signals that nature gives us that something is amiss. We fight nature instead of honoring it.

I feel that to live in tune with nature, and have those primal part of us still in tact, are a strength. The primal desire to survive keeps us alive. The primal desire for sex and pleasure keeps us from dying out and losing our sanity. To feel changes in weather acts as a warning that it’s time to take cover. To feel tired or depressed on gloomy days encourages us to rest and reflect, since in ancient times to rain meant not much was going to be done outdoors. That there is still a feral wildness in us ready to unleash at a moments notice is ferocious, comforting, and necessary for survival. It’s not “falling prey” to the primal, as we often are lead to believe. It’s not limiting. It is noticing what is within our nature and being able to make the choice to act or not with an enlightened knowledge of circumstances from our always developing cognitive abilities.

To deny those pieces of self are to deny yourself the benefits or warnings those instincts and feelings bring. They’re a superpower in an industrialized age, not a weakness. It is our wildness coming through, and it deserves and serves our notice.