Whether or Not Weather Affects Personality

 

weather - noun - the state of the atmosphere at a place and time as regards heat, sunshine, wind, rain, etc. 2. verb - to wear away or change the appearance or texture of 3. verb. - come through a storm 

Weather is a common noun in the English language, so well known and frequently used in fact, that few ever bother to research its meaning. The verb forms are perhaps not as familiar, but language arts teachers in American middle schools might suggest them as "strong verbs," if indeed the "strong verb" is even taught anymore. But I digress. 

At the center of this one-sided conversation as the title indicates is whether or not weather affects personality. I am sure there is scientific or psychological evidence proving that it does via named maladies. For instance, there is SAD or Seasonal Affected Disorder, which my daughter swears she has as documented by her manic depressive experiences in Boston and New York where the climate and atmosphere were and still are bi-polar as well. Now that she lives in Los Angeles, a city of not only angels but extraordinarily, consistently sublime weather, her syndrome is no longer apparent. She only gets manic when confronted with the insanity of the drivers on the 405 and elsewhere. There has been no proof of depression, though, just threats of overt violence that could be explained by the fact that she grew up and learned to drive in Jersey.

Which brings me to my point. Although I have lived here in SoCal for just over a month, I have noticed some patterns as is my habit, good or bad. As is the case in any large city, quite a few of the inhabitants are from elsewhere other than Southern California. So far, I have met people from Brazil, Mexico, countries in Asia, France, England, the Midwest, the South, the North East and Middle Atlantic states. What I tend to see daily is that native Californians are easy to pinpoint in a crowd of foreigners. They stand out simply because they are unusually congenial, sunny. You know, like the weather. I'm not saying the transplants aren't nice; they can be, but their dispositions just aren't as...hmm. Ebullient? 

Case in point, last night I attended a read-through of a play that I will be stage managing this summer. When I walked into the room, only about three unabashed actors were talking, breaking the ice with friendly chatter while the others sat in silence, staring vaguely at their devices. Feeling the contrary vibes, I said to myself, All of these people aren't from around here. And I was right. Only three out of eleven (most likely the chatterboxes) were from California, something I discovered by doing a bit of sleuthing. I looked up the area codes of their cell phone numbers the following day to find that my assumption was correct. Most were from the Midwest. 

So what can I conclude? The weather pretty much everywhere is not consistent, and neither are the affected personalities.  Even when said personalities are in a consistently sunny place, they aren't always sunny themselves because, well, their past environmental conditions jaded them somewhere down the line. 

Weather can and does influence human disposition, but just because you don't live in Southern California or aren't native to the state doesn't mean you can't be cognizant of how you present yourself to others. 

The takeaway? Don't let weather weather your demeanor unfavorably. 

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