It’s nine o’clock on a Friday morning and I’m standing in the kitchen waiting for the water to boil, although it has already boiled twice. I push the on-button for the third time, the way I looked at the clock three times last night in the time span of no more than one minute, unable to fall asleep. My mind is restless like my body has been for the past three days. It’s a full moon. Yes. I am one of those people who Googles “full moon superstitions”, finding comfort in the first hit’s title being: “Why Do People Go Crazy During A Full Moon?”, because I do, somewhat, lose my head. There’s this unease to all that goes wrong, everything – from me forgetting my keys for the umptieth time to my best friend cancelling on me because she’s ill – feels unfair. Of course, I am a woman, and my closest surroundings don’t hesitate to attribute my behavior during full moon days to my “feminine vulnerability”, which really makes it all the more unfair.
For years people have theorized that the full moon has a negative impact on us. How is it that you fail your driving exam, are left at the altar; or that your dog gets run over exactly in those full moon days? Believers – or might I aptly call them lunatics ? – suggest that the craziness that ensues with a full moon sprouts from our experiencing of its tidal, affecting our internal organ liquids (hm…); or that we’re evolving mindlessly, in unison, with the lunar cycle; or perhaps the light coming from the moon affects our visual cortex in a such a way that it stimulates the animalistic parts of the brain? Crazy as this may all sound, certainly for me, there is legitimacy in these beliefs. Their consequences so often ring true to me.
But sadly, the first hit on Google tells me it’s all a myth. Behavioral changes due to tidal effects are a complete scam. We experience two high and low tides every day, which has nothing to do with the phase of the moon. No…wait a minute, whenever a full moon strikes, there is too much unease and lack of sleep that can be attributed to this to ignore. I feel down. Like the world is a little bit darker when there’s actually more light. This whole extra hour of time that was given to us some fortnights ago doesn’t really help either.
Then again, we don’t notice all the mishaps when there isn’t a full moon. We don’t categorize them as superior because they happen with lack of superstitious excuse. There’s nothing “more” to your bike being stolen or losing your sock in a room you never left when there’s nothing to blame it on, or is there? We’ll simply forget these instances. After I’ve finally had my cup of coffee that took so long to create, I start off my day outside by going back inside again into the nearest-by bakery. I’m eating my croissant, looking out of the window whilst two female friends, one with a pushchair, are sitting on the bench out front. The door is open so I can hear their talk about not being able to sleep well last night. I smile, feeling energized by this merging of three lunatics. In a couple of days, it will all be over, and I can go back to the unsuperstitious darkness.
Header image courtesy of The Telegraph.
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