I’ve come to learn that I really enjoy working in environments with only natural lighting. At my job, I work in a large open room with about 50 people. Many of them are artists who need to minimize the glare on their screens, so the great big windows covering the walls of our room are always covered with blinds, and we instead have fluorescent lights turned on (these do cause glare too, but at least they are more predictable so people can tilt their screens to minimize it).

But every once in a while, I’ll be in the office on a weekend, or early in the morning, and I’ll have the room to myself. The lights stay off, the blinds come down, and I immediately feel peaceful and refreshed. I’m noticeably happier and feel great while I’m working. At home too, I’ve set up my desk next to the window and I love the light that comes in from outside. Now that I’m aware that this is something that has a big impact on me, I’ll do my best to seek out environments with natural lighting in the future.