If you’ve ever felt bad about sitting at your desk or staying indoors on a nice day, you’ve experienced “sunshine guilt.” Thanks to social media, the term seems to be everywhere these days. But what does “sunshine guilt” mean, and is it an actual scientific phenomenon? More importantly, should you feel guilty about not being outside when the weather is nice?
“Sunshine guilt refers to the regret people feel when they stay in on a sunny day rather than going outside and taking advantage of nice weather,” says Douglas J. Opler, M.D., clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. And while many of us have felt it, “It is a pop psychology term and doesn’t originate in any technical literature on psychology,” says Dr. Opler.
Why do we feel guilty about staying indoors on a nice day?
There’s no simple answer, but one reason is that staying indoors may somehow go against what you think you prioritize. “If you have always told yourself that you value quality time in nature, and you pass up on that opportunity because of work or streaming your favorite show, you might feel like that’s a transgression,” says Philip J. Fizur, Psy.D., lead psychologist for Integrated Primary and Specialty Psychological Services at Cooper University Health Care, and assistant professor of medicine at the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.
When people feel guilty about staying indoors on a beautiful day, this also implies that they have the expectation that they should go outdoors and yet also have some conflicting barrier to doing so. “Human lives are too diverse to note all the possible ways that sunshine guilt could develop,” says Dr. Opler. “Perhaps we see exercise, gardening or outdoor recreation as personal goals to be achieved, perhaps we feel better when we go outside than when we spend time inside, perhaps our parents encouraged us to go outside rather than stay indoors, or perhaps we follow social media personalities who make the outdoors appear glamorous.”
But for all the reasons we want to go outdoors, “there are a million reasons that the expectation gets violated,” says Dr. Opler. That may include:
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Health problems that make going outside difficult or challenging.
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Work, familial and personal responsibilities limit our time to go out.
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Fatigue after a long workday, which makes it feel too hard to go outside.
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Activities that we enjoy indoors compete for our time (such as baking, doing a jigsaw puzzle or playing the piano).
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We find ourselves engaging in competing but perhaps less satisfying compulsions (such as watching TV, YouTube or TikTok). “We may enjoy these activities, but in many cases, people don’t really fully want to do these things, but we find ourselves doing them anyway to a degree that seems to steal time,” says Dr. Opler.
Should we feel guilty about staying indoors?
You probably already know the answer to this, but here’s the deal: “Many mental health providers today would suggest we should not judge emotions,” says Fizur. “To say we should not experience one emotion or another only complicates the problem. Emotions are automatic and reflexive by and large. If you feel it, you feel it, and that’s okay.”
You also need to give yourself permission to make your own choices. “First, if you are choosing one value over another — work, time alone, comfort away from the heat and so on — you are allowed to do that,” says Fizur. “It does not say anything more broadly about you. Second, if it is not your choice because you must work or take care of someone who cannot go outside, for example, then it is not your choice, so why feel guilty about that?”
What are some helpful ways to think about this feeling?
Sometimes what we feel can be a precursor to action. “In many circumstances, guilt and the avoidance of guilt keep us on track and help us to live up to our reasonable expectations of ourselves,” says Dr. Opler. “If I have a workout regimen, and I feel a little guilty when I occasionally miss a workout day, guilt might actually be useful to me in that it keeps me on schedule.”
But guilt is only as useful as its effect on us. “If we examine our values and determine that we do value going out on a sunny day, rather than staying inside, and we examine the barriers to doing so and determine that they are surmountable, then maybe the sunshine guilt that we feel will help us to do better next time and actually get us to go out,” says Dr. Opler. “If so, then this small twinge of sunshine guilt was useful and has helped us to solve our problem. We no longer have to feel guilty about it most of the time because we are now getting out when we can.”
If you want to change your approach to your feelings of sunshine guilt, Fizur suggests taking these steps:
Notice and name the feeling.
Say, “I’m noticing guilt.” You don’t have to explain it, fight it or fix it. Just label it.
Breathe into it.
Imagine the guilt as a sensation in your body; maybe it’s a tightness in your chest or a knot in your stomach. Take a slow breath in, as if you’re gently making space around it, not pushing it away, not inviting it closer, just letting it be there.
Unhook from guilty thoughts.
When thoughts like “I shouldn’t be inside” show up, you can mentally add: “I’m having the thought that…” in front of them, so it becomes “I’m having the thought I shouldn’t be inside.” Now you’re noting it as a thought, not an absolute truth. This helps you see thoughts as thoughts, not demands.
Reconnect to the present moment.
Gently shift attention outward: What grounding details can you see, hear, feel around you right now? Maybe notice the sunshine coming through the window on your skin, the breeze from a fan that feels like the wind, or the sound of laughter. Staying in the moment helps reduce the pull of “what else could be happening.”
Take a break from scrolling.
“A lot of FOMO is triggered by seeing the posts others are making from outside, so take a break from scrolling and reinvest that energy into what is keeping you inside,” says Fizur.
If you want to be more intentional about getting outdoors, use these tips from Dr. Opler:
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Use sensory association. For example, if it’s a nice day out, opening the window to smell the outdoor air, feeling the breeze through the open window, or picking up some paraphernalia that we associate with outdoor activities (a gardening trowel, a soccer ball, the dog’s leash) may help spark a motivation to get us outside.
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Make a date. Agree to meet up with a friend outdoors, which makes us more likely to follow through.
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Plan a small reward. For example, you’ll let yourself watch one brief video after you’re out or allow yourself a coffee from your favorite café.
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Take baby steps. Maybe life doesn’t allow us to spend three hours hiking or gardening every day, but we can think creatively to find other ways to integrate outdoor time into life, such as:
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Eat lunch or dinner outside.
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Go for a five-minute walk after dinner.
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After work, instead of going inside immediately, walk up the street and look at the neighborhood gardens for a few minutes.
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If you just want to “veg,” sit under a tree with your phone rather than on the couch.
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Substitute an outdoor activity for some part of your indoor gym workout.
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The bottom line
Sunshine guilt is a normal feeling and, just like other feelings, you’re “allowed” to feel it. If what is keeping you indoors is a more pervasive sense of sadness, a lack of sense of pleasure, sleep issues, fatigue, negative thoughts about yourself or if the thought of going outside makes you nervous, you might be experiencing something such as depression, which warrants seeking help. “In the same way we check in at least once a year with our primary care provider, make a habit of checking in from time to time with a mental health provider or even a close, trusted friend about how you feel,” says Fizur.
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