It’s January, still winter. The sky is grey. Perhaps you look out of the window and think: “What a gloomy grey winter day.”
You might also think: “Well, it’s this part of the year. It’s gloomy everywhere.” And as you feel a little gloomy yourself, the thought comes to mind: “Everyone feels gloomy at this time.”
We assume so easily that everyone shares our experiences but they are vastly different! Apart from how people might feel around the globe – and we are a global community, right? - just look at the different temperatures and skies of different cities or places on earth as I found them an hour ago on the internet.
Boston, US, +3°C, cloudy
Los Angeles, US, +17°C, sunny
Berlin, Germany, -1°, light snow
Rome, Italy, +14°C, partly cloudy
Delhi, India, +13°C, fog
Helsinki, Finland, -3°C, cloudy
Bangkok, Thailand, +25°C, partly cloudy
Tokyo, Japan, +4°C, partly cloudy
Melbourne, Australia, +26°C, fair
Lagos, Nigeria, + 27°C, partly cloudy
Moscow, Russia, -11°C, fair
Buenos Aires, Argentina, +26°C, fair
Cairo, Egypt, +15°C, clear
Thule Air Base, Greenland, -31°C, fair
Medina, Saudi Arabia, +22°C, fair
Hong Kong, China, +18°C, partly cloudy
All different, right? For some people it’s night right now as I write this. For some it’s morning or noon or evening. All different experiences. Some people are gloomy, some are happy. Some work, some play, and some cook or eat or sail or dream.
So, our experiences at this hour of this day are all different? And people are all different in general, too? Yes, everyone is unique. Even identical twins are different from each other in certain ways.
As different as we are and as different as our lifestyles might be, we all share being humans. We all share living on earth. We all share the desire to be safe. We all want to be loved and appreciated.
When you know this - looking out of your window at this winter day, having in mind all the others - you might think this day is not so gloomy after all. Perhaps you even understand that life is colorful and diverse and has much promise.
This gloomy grey winter day might actually be a very interesting and unique day, worth to be appreciated.