winter light

One of the floor lamps in my office gave out last week. The threads that connected the pole to the base had completely deteriorated, and that was that. I retrieved a three-bulb floor lamp that I had relegated to the second bedroom some years ago for reasons I no longer recall. The light bulbs in it were some old 60-watt incandescent 5-year bulbs that probably date back to our years in Mountain View. When I turned it on I immediately had a sinking feeling and remembered why I so much appreciate my full-spectrum light bulbs.

I don’t know whether I actually have diagnosable seasonal affective disorder, but I do know that I would become down and blue this time of year. A counselor I was seeing told me about full-spectrum bulbs (I think the more common label these days is “daylight”), and I installed those in the dining area, in our bedroom, and in my loft office. Since then, I have had only the briefest moments of that down feeling in the winter.

I immediately replaced the old 60-watts with daylight compact fluorescent bulbs and all was once again well.

It was good to be reminded about how much that technology means to me. It is not something I want to take for granted.