I No Longer Hate Winter

I’m still not a fan. It’s by no means my favorite season. I have come to respect it, though. It does at least deserve that.

Just some background so you understand my feelings about this season. Then I’ll get to the good stuff and the reason for writing.

I grew up in a small town outside of Las Vegas. Then I lived in Hawaii for five years. Neither one have very low temperatures ever. I don’t handle cold well, to say the least.

I didn’t know what to do in the snow or how to handle it. I am clumsy enough without losing all my traction. I can’t seem to stay vertical. The older I get, the more slipping hurts and does some serious damage.

I get sick. A lot. I’m prone to sinus infections. One year, I got three in just one month. It’s absolutely miserable. Even when I’m not sick, I’m sluggish. I get sleepy faster and more often.

I need sunshine to function. Depression is a real thing. Vitamin D pills help a lot. It doesn’t cover everything though. All of the above make me cower and want to simply hibernate all winter. I feel worthless. I become worthless as I’m frozen, shivering by any heat source I can find.

Literally. I spent this entire day sitting on the heating vent while my siblings went out and played in the snow. See how happy they are? Guess which one I am…

Winter and I have just never gotten along. Now to the point…

I’m tired of hating. I’ve not hated people in a long time. I like people, so that wasn’t hard. Hating even something (as opposed to someone- read life lesson here) takes just as much of my energy, and it’s energy I can’t really spare, especially in this season.

I have a lot of friends who really love winter. They enjoy the biting cold and picturesque mountain scenes. They get a rush from feeling like you are floating and gliding over freshly fallen snow.

I got tired of spending my time tearing down something that others love. It’s not like I was going to change their minds anyways. I got tired of being someone I’m not. I’m normally a positive, upbeat and happy person. I am the one in control of this mindset. I’ll not transform who I am and who I want to be because of winter to become the opposite of what I strive for.

I spent more time listening to them trying to convince me why winter is great. It may not be great, but there are certainly reasons it does deserve a little more respect for it’s beauty, it’s uniqueness and it’s strength.

I realized that while I don’t have to like it, I also don’t have to waste my time and energy actively hating it either. Especially as I learn to appreciate and respect it more.

I do not want to be known or defined as someone who hates winter. I want to be known for what I can do, and defined by the things I love. I want to leave a positive mark in the world and make a change in the lives of others.

Looking at the long run, what good does it accomplish? It’s not like it lasts forever. So how does my hatred of winter fall into this picture? It doesn’t. All it does is pull time away from what I really want to be doing with my time and energy. Especially as limited as it gets during this season.

As long as I’m smart enough not to move to Antarctica, I can handle a few months of rough living. After all, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s the hard stuff that teaches me the most about being a better human being.

I am more. YOU are more than your hatred. How about we act like it?