I woke up this morning to my Alexa telling me that today we will have a high of zero degrees Celsius. A HIGH OF. The low is -7 degrees, and it is November 11th. Maybe this is wishful thinking, but in my memory it’s rarely this cold this early in the season. We typically get one solid snow in November, and then no more snow until later in December. Sometimes we don’t even have snow on Christmas!
But here’s the thing about winter: it’s coming, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it, no matter how hard I try. I don’t like winter, I don’t like being cold, and I don’t like the dark. And yet I live in Canada, where I want to be because it’s close to my loved ones. Every winter, when things get colder, I feel like I’m between a rock and a hard place: miserable because of the weather & lack of sunlight, but not wanting to move away.
I’m realizing just how easy it is for me to be negative when the weather is in the negative degrees. I hate that it’s true, but this weather puts me in such a bad mood! And yet that is actually not sustainable, considering that we’re about to be in for at least four straight months of cold weather, if not more.
So here is my commitment to myself: do what it takes to be happy this winter. Do what it takes to stay warm. Buy better thermal underwear. Get more candles. Winterize your windows! Get another space heater and one of those SAD lights. Make copious amounts of tea every day. Play that Fireplace video non-stop.
I may actually make myself some resolutions about this, to turn it into some kind of fun project: Survive Winter 2019-2020! Obviously ideally I would not just survive, but thrive, but let’s not get too carried away here. There are lots of things I can do to enhance this (very long) season, so I intend to do them. Wish me luck! And if you have any ideas for enjoying winter, send them my way!
