Am I Moody or Emotional?

I knew that emotions and moods were different, but I never really thought about how they may be different until reading the section about moods in chapter thirteen. The text describes the differences between moods and emotions nicely. In it, it describes a mood as something that could last a few hours or days even and it describes an emotion as something that lasts for seconds or minutes. This got me thinking because I never thought of an emotion only lasting for seconds. When I get emotional, in that moment (depending on what the situation is), it could feel a lot longer than it actually is.

Something that always facinated me as a psychology major was the seasonal affective disorder. What this is, is depression in the wintertime. During the winter, the sun goes down earlier, it is cold and people are generally not as happy. Their moods are lifted in the spring time, on weekends or in the afternoon, depending on the day. For me, my mood lifts when I have accomplished something. My mood tends to motivate me to get done what I need to, so that I can be in a better mood. For example, when I am at work, I may have a good day and be in a good mood, but as soon as I get home, my mood gets even better because my goal (getting through the work day) has be resolved.