Spring is upon us, bringing with it new life, seasonal allergies, and one extremely annoying feature: the rapidly changing weather patterns. In one week, it may drop below freezing and then reach 60 degrees. It may pour for an hour and then be sunny for the rest of the day. You never know what you're going to get.
Everyone seems eager to stake a claim to be living in the location with the craziest weather patterns, but I think it's time to take a step back from that argument and look at the way we're framing this declaration. So many people throw around the word "bipolar" when they talk about the weather, not taking into account the weight the term carries for the thousands of people that are affected by bipolar disorder each and every day. Mental health diagnoses are not adjectives. That being said, here are 36 things to say about the weather that won't appropriate a very serious disorder.
1. Summer and winter really seem to be battling it out this week.
2. The weather can't seem to make up its mind.
3. The weather is unpredictable.
4. Yesterday it was beautiful and today it is rainy. This is inconvenient for me.
5. The weather is indecisive.
6. I can't believe I have to dig out my shorts in the middle of February.
7. Well, it looks like I put away my sweaters too soon.
8. The weather is at war with itself.
9. The weather is beautiful, thank goodness.
10. Wasn't it sunny 20 minutes ago?
11. Wasn't it raining 5 minutes ago?
12. This weather is giving me whiplash.
13. I was wearing a dress yesterday. Now, I'm bundled up from head to toe.
14. We really can't trust the weathermen.
15. My weather app is constantly changing.
16. Should I put away my winter boots?
17. Weren't we just doing homework outside yesterday?
18. Should I go spring shopping yet?
19. Why is it snowing in the middle of March?
20. We don't even have a fall or spring. We just have summer and winter...aka the extreme seasons.
21. The sky looks funny.
22. I wish the weather would decide what it's doing. PICK A SEASON.
23. It's so weird how the weather keeps changing.
24. It seems like the weather is different with each passing hour!
25. The weather has been fluctuating a lot lately.
26. The weather patterns lately don't make any sense.
27. The weather reports are always wrong because Mother Nature changes her mind so often.
28. This weather really keeps me on the edge of my seat!
29. I'm confused by the changing weather patterns.
30. I want to live somewhere where the weather isn't so hard to follow.
31. I'd like a little bit more consistency in the weather.
32. Cold or warm? I wish the weather would pick a side.
33. I wish the weather would stick to one temperature range.
34. The weather keeps switching around and I can't keep up.
35. One minute it's beautiful out and the next it's a downpour!
36. The weather changes way too much.
There you go. Now you truly have no excuse to describe the weather as "bipolar," when at least one of these 36 items are what you really intend to say. Expand your vocabulary beyond terms that belittle a serious mental health condition and spread love, not ignorance.
