Making Friends With Winter
That’s me in the red—when I first discovered snow.
I am an eighth-generation native Californian. My family has been in sunshine for 200 years. Warm rays are in my DNA—they might as well flow through my veins.
But I live in the northeast, where winter is just cold—and long. Like below freezing cold. Like it just snowed on October 30. Meaning five months long.
So, I have a bad attitude about this coming season. I detest it. I don’t like snow, wind chill, frostbite, freezing rain, sleet, ice…should I continue?
On December 21, on our shortest day of the year, the sun will be at its southernmost declination and the North Pole will be tilted furthest away from the sun. So not only am I far away from that stunning orb that brings summer glow, but so is Santa. He doesn’t like it either.
This year, 2020—and what a special year this is—things will be different. This year, I’m changing my attitude. I am making friends with winter.
What do you need to make friends with? Where in your life might you need a new perspective?
Hating winter doesn’t get me anywhere. It doesn’t change Mother Nature any—certainly doesn’t make it less wintery. My block about winter just makes the season less tolerable. It gives me something to complain about. But who needs to add more complaining to the already low-vibrating energy circling all of us right now?
My goal for 2020-2021: I am going to LOVE it. I’m going to welcome winter in like an old friend. I am going to revel in it like a kid loving snowball fights and skiing because of the hot chocolate you have afterwards.
Friends who are winter-lovers have already shared some strategies to help me embrace it. Things like:
Dress up! In this case, it means buy down. All kinds of down. Down vests, down jackets, down sweaters, ¾ length down jackets, down blankets, weighted blankets—whatever it takes to make me warm and snuggly.
Outdoor activities. I’m exploring cross-country skiing or snowshoeing. I’m beyond my downhill days, Tesla doesn’t make snowmobiles, and ice fishing: Um, no. Curling? All that ice sweeping! So, I’m back to x-country or snowshoes—or walking on trails near where I live. My friends tell me if I have enough layers, I’ll love all those things.
Be in it. I plan to take in all of the frosty beauty that’s there. See it. Sense it. Touch it! I remember learning as a kid about Snowflake Bentley—that farmer from Vermont who discovered that no two snowflakes are the same. Every single one has a different structure—like fingerprints!
This snowflake is starting to really pay attention to the wonder of that.
I can even taste winter if I want. My parents always said we moved from California because they wanted us to experience the four seasons. They wanted us to try maple sugar on snow. It’s such an old family story that I don’t know if we ever actually ate snow with maple sugar on it. So, I’m considering trying that, too. I’m going to breathe in that icy first frost on the lawn, the hoarfrost on bare limbs, and notice how the snow clings to needles on the evergreens.
What will you do to make friends with that which you have previously alienated in your life? Will you practice this with me?
I’m going to watch how winter lands, and see how the boughs hold it. I’ll open my arms wide and hold it myself. Starting now, I’m stopping my tantrums about it. I’m ready to see the magic.