It’s that time of year again. Co-workers are giving me their unsolicited stories about going to Hawaii, or all the cool things they just did in Hawaii and how the sun is just so revitalizing. And somewhere in the middle of Mai Tai this and sunburned that, I will inevitably get the question that isn’t really a question (just more manic details). I’ve heard this, oh, I don’t know, for as long as people have been going to Hawaii and I haven’t:
“And did you know that the weather there is just so amazing? If it rains you don’t have to worry! No, you don’t! Just wait, like, five minutes and the sun comes right back out again! Can you believe that? Did you know that?”
Yep, I can. And yep, I do. Are they done talking to me now, I wonder, as I scan the conference room for chocolate?
“And the flowers—you just wouldn’t believe the flowers! They don’t look like anything we have here. They’re totally awesome!”
Yeah, we’ve all seen the Birds-of-Paradise and the bromeliads and the orchids at the local grocery store, I think to myself.
“And did you know there are, like, so many different climates you can find on one island? On the island (insert name that I won’t remember) we went from the beach where it was probably 75—no, probably more like 85 degrees that day (that day was so hot)—to a tropical forest, to a desert, to snow in only three hours. Can you believe that? Snow? People ski there, you know. I’m totally going to do that next time I go.”
You do that, I think, as I watch the rain spitting outside the gritty windows…
For those of you who don’t make the trek to Paradise every winter, may I recommend the following?
Those totally awesome flowers (the ones carried back on the same airplanes that bring your annoying co-workers back home to bother you)—those very flowers that you totally wouldn’t believe, because you’ve never seen anything like them where you live…buy some.
And honestly, they don’t even have to be those same flowers—any flowers will do. Put them in your home. Put them in as many rooms as you can, or at least the rooms in which you spend the most time. Flowers most definitely lift spirits, induce happiness (especially if received as a gift) and alleviate anxiety and depression overall. I could quote the sites and studies that document these conclusions, but I’d be here all day. I hope you’ll take my word for it and just try it. It really does work.
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