I took my bicycle to work today, as I always do.
But today it was pouring down.
It usually takes me about half an hour and takes me through both upmarket areas and the painfully trendy neighborhoods, cutting through a rather large slice of the city's demographic pie you could say.
I noticed how hesitant neighbors were staring at nature's poor weather choice through their windows, pondering how to get to work without loosing all sartorial credibility at the office.
However, I decided not to overthink the situation, or of any consequences, and just put my rain jacket on, and my rain trousers, pulled and folded my hoodie over my head, and most importantly - I pulled a pair of 8 liter plastic bags over my shoes, to keep them dry too. Crucially, I I waited to pull them on until after I dropped my daughter off at her school, to make sure she would have friends left..
Seems I worried in vain. During the morning journey through the rainy city I noticed that all the other commuters were too busy keeping dry and warm, to even begin to consider how other people looked and behaved.
So, I realized, that it's with cold rain like it's with warm sunny weather - it makes us grownups more tolerant towards each other , and how we present ourselves - and society as a whole more accepting. Passengers enter the train soaking wet, wacky hairstyles, layers of color-mismatching sweaters, wrinkly jackets and glasses that looks like they've been traversing the Golden Gate bridge on its foggiest day. And all this playing out to an audience that actually share the same stage space, rather than from the aisles.
It's pretty liberating. And same goes for the warm sunny weather, when people some how seem to be able to just ignore any sense of self-criticism and just drop their trousers and dress codes and strut to the office in skimpy shorts, and tight tops. Wether they ought to or not is of course a different question.
So here's my realization: next time you leave the house in a cold rain, or warm sunny weather - boost your self-esteem by choosing comfy clothes that make you happy to be alive, and brace the weather with all the other humans who have realized, too, that only you can decide how the weather should affect you. Even when sitting in a train car reading your soaking wet newspaper through foggy glasses.
Let it pour.
