Sunshine Guilt - Just let it go!

By ALICE O’BRIEN Alice O’Brien Counselling, Newmarket

On a lovely July evening when your days’ work is done and the balmy evening is ahead, you know you should be out sitting in the garden but you’re watching the soaps on TV instead. Similarly, on a warm August morning, the day is heating up but the kids are all in their rooms with their devices. What do these scenes have in common? The answer is guilt, more specifically sunshine guilt. Yes it is a thing- sunshine guilt. It occurs when the sun calls us to get outside and soak it up- but what if we can’t, or we don’t want to?

Sunshine guilt refers to the pressure you feel to make themost of all the sunny days we get. But, we can’t just down tools when the sun comes out and go to the beach, we have to work or fulfil other commitments. The main thing that drives this guilt for us all is the scarcity mind-set- we don’t get a lot of sunshine so we believe it to be a fleeting thing and we feel guilty because we won’t get the day back once it’s gone.

So how do we spare ourselves the burden of guilt? Well, we need to start with our mind, our thinking. So, maybe we had to stay indoors on the sunny day, but we spent it being productive, or fulfilling commitments that make us dependable. Another way to lessen the guilt is to drop the ‘all-ornothing’ mind-set. So, we have to work, but could we have our lunch outside? Or get out in the evening? Self-compassion is a great way of lessening guilt also, being kind to ourselves, we are allowed to feel disappointed or annoyed at the situation, but we are not allowed to criticise ourselves for it.

Remember, spending time in the sun might be seen as an ideal way to spend time, but it might not be your favourite pastime and that is OK. Drop the guilt around it and do what is right for you.