My husband has what you might call a fascination with Alaska. Name a reality show based in the Last Frontier — and there are many, including Deadliest Catch, Bering Sea Gold and Flying Wild Alaska — and he’s seen it.
At first, I didn’t quite understand the appeal. Sure, the scenery is breathtaking, but Alaska is cold — really cold. And I can certainly appreciate the need to be close to nature, as many Alaskans are, but having to use an outhouse in an area heavily populated with bears is a little too close for me. I must’ve been missing something.
So I decided to give it a try. And sure enough, after watching a few shows with him, I started to get it. The fact that the lifestyle is so different is precisely what makes it so interesting. Watching Flying Wild Alaska, a series about a family-run airline that transports food and other necessities to people living in remote areas, gave me a glimpse into what life is like for those living in isolation.
One episode that really stood out to me took place on the shortest day of the year, where despite the severely cold temperatures and prolonged darkness, pilots still had to make their deliveries, because people were counting on them. To give you an idea of what they deal with, in Fairbanks, Alaska, the window of daylight on December 21 lasts approximately 3 hours and 42 minutes.
That’s an awfully short window if you ask me.
And in some areas, like northern Scandinavia, the phenomenon called Polar Nights — which occur when the night lasts for more than 24 hours — can last for two to three months. In Norway’s Hammerfest, the northern most city of the world, the sun remains hidden for 1,500 hours.
When I think about what it must be like in those places when the sun finally comes out, I imagine people dropping everything and running outside just to see the light. I’d be the first one out there.
And in fact, that’s precisely what I did Tuesday when not only did the temperature rise, but the sun was out. For those of us in the northeast, it’s been a tough winter, and the sight of some relief was enough for me to tear up my to-do list and take my kids outside.
And they loved every second of it. They ran around and explored the (no-longer snow-covered) terrain while breathing in fresh air. It was just what we needed. And when we finally went inside and had dinner, there were no shenanigans. My daughter ate everything on her plate, and my son was begging for more fruit. Being able to run around outside had left them famished — and exhausted, it turned out.
I was amazed.
The lesson here is pretty clear. When there’s a sunny day, you need to take advantage of it. Your mind and body need it. Of course, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a warm day outside; any activity that recharges the battery is critical to maintaining some level of sanity, especially in our world, where multi-tasking is a way of life and our phones are always on.
On the other hand, if you pass on a sunny day, thinking you can always go outside the next day, you might find that the window has closed. It’s a mistake they don’t make in areas like Alaska, or even Seattle, where the pockets of sun are few and far between. I remember an interview with Wes Wright, CIO at Seattle Children’s Hospital, who makes it a point to take advantage when the clouds part.
“You’ve got to get time away,” he said. “Get some ‘sunshine gathering time’ on your schedule and make sure and stick with it, or it can get a little bit gloomy.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
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