Three layers on the bottom, four layers on top: I've got this cold thing covered! This isn't a uniquely chilly morning, but it is remarkable for November, and even this Michigan boy isn't conditioned for it yet. Long John's help, but sometimes the cold can seem bone deep. I am looking forward to my workout tonight, but more than that, the fifteen or twenty minutes I'll spend in the sauna afterwards.
Today is as good a reminder as any of my continued commitment to being happier all year round. As I said, I live in the thumb region of Michigan where the four seasons are, summer, almost winter, winter, and still winter. Several years ago now, after having spent yet another season huddled inside, gaining weight, loosing muscle mass, and feeling more than a little miserable about the seemly endless cold and dark, I decided to do something. I decided if I was going to be unhappy every time the weather wasn't to my liking, too wet, too cold, too hot, too...you name it, then I was going to continue to be miserable most of the days of the year.
There are some wonderful things about living in the Midwest. The beauty of a snowy woodland scene, evergreens and bare bark against stark white; frozen ponds and the other worldly architecture of ice flows pressing against the lakeshore; the power of a blinding white lake affect snow squall that pops up, and clears just as suddenly; the eery silence of a blanket of six or more inches of fresh snowfall; or the sound of "hard-snow" as it crunches under your feet on a freezing "subzero" morning; that are truly worth the inconvenience of being slightly uncomfortable, or inconvenienced.
I found that if I accepted it was simply going to take longer to get from place to place, and that I was going to have to plan ahead and get up all the earlier to deal with the snow so that I wouldn't be late for whatever it was I needed to do in the morning, then the inconvenience of winter was muted by simply being prepared for it. Most importantly, I learned that if I dressed appropriately and went outside to experience the cold, snow, and wind and all the things I listed above, during the short daylight hours that we do have, then I was ultimately mentally and physically healthier all winter long.
Some winters are longer than others, and this is by no means a fool proof system. Nor am I suggesting that all winter ailments - specifically SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) or the pain and inflammation of arthritis and fibromyalgia - can be cured with a change of attitude. That said; the recommended therapy for SAD is exposure to sunlight with supplemental broad spectrum indoor lighting, and moving, as much as you're able, is always recommendable to help with pain and inflammation. So, if you live in a cold place, get out there and embrace what you can about the longest season of the year.
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