Oh thank sweet fuck, it’s officially the shortest day of the year. Today (June 21) is the Winter Solstice, meaning that while we have barely nine hours and 53 minutes of daylight, it’s all uphill from here, babyyy.
No more waking up in the dark and having a stern word to yourself about getting out of bed. No more sunsets at 4.53pm (the ACTUAL sunset time today, folks). No more curling up on the couch and eating all night because it’s dark outside and once it’s dark the world stops. (I mean, you can do this in summer, too, but it feels less gremlin-y when you COULD be going for a lovely evening stroll but instead chose to eat chips.)
Every single day from now until the Summer Solstice (on Wednesday, 22 December) will be longer than the last. To me, that’s beautiful.
I know some of you have ‘loving winter’ as a defining personality trait, but I am not one of those people. Yes, the heatwaves suck, and yes, trying to sleep when its 38 degrees outside is a special kind of sweaty torture. But are you really telling me you prefer leaving work when it’s already nighttime? The day is DONE, and you just wasted it earning a living.
As our mates over at Lifehacker Australia helpfully pointed out, the Winter Solstice is about four hours and 30 minutes shorter than the Summer Solstice. Plus, for anyone with SAD (seasonal affective disorder), this day marks the halfway point through feeling flat / sad / sluggish due to the tilt of the Earth’s axis. (Hey, SAD is a real thing and not something you should just struggle through because it’s the ‘winter blues’ or whatever. Here’s some good resources.)
Anyway. Short day bad, long day good. This is my opinion but it’s also the correct one. And we’re on the up and up from here, folks!
