I’m a hot-weather person. I have no idea why I still live in Wisconsin. I was born here, but that’s no excuse.
I’m kidding. There’s a lot to be said for the merits of winter. Once the deep freeze sets in in January (when it can be -3 degrees), I take a lot of comfort in hunkering down for a long, cozy retreat. That’s when the Badger State slows to what’s truly a badger’s tempo: lots of nights in, cups of tea, thick sweaters and warm socks, lazy Sundays with books and blankets. The quiet of winter can be very healing.
By March, I start to feel a ray of hope. There’s still 50 feet of snow, driveways to be cleared, and two more centuries of freezing temperatures. Well, it seems like two centuries, but it’s only two months.
Come May, it feels like the sun is alive again, and there is great majesty in the unfolding of flowers and leaves.
My trick to surviving a harsh winter
Now, in December, a new survival technique has occurred to me. It’s a temperature game, where I imagine, for example, that 34 degrees Fahrenheit is 34 degrees Celsius.
That’s a luscious 93 degrees Fahrenheit.
The next step is envisioning what I would love to be doing if it were 34 degrees Celsius/93 degrees Fahrenheit. I would love to be outside, soaking up the sun.
The last time I enjoyed a temperature of 34 degrees Celsius, it was September and I was in Delphi. One of my fondest memories is of several sweaty days on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, where I spent hour after glorious hour traversing the ancient sanctuary.
Sound too hot? Try this survival trick in your own way. Say it’s 20 degrees out. You’re finding it difficult to endure another endless winter. Here’s how to get through:
- Take that 20 degree Fahrenheit temperature.
- Enter 20 in the Celsius column of a conversion calculator.
- That’s 68 degrees Fahrenheit!
- What would you be doing if it were 68 degrees out?
Take that image and run with it. Immerse yourself in those balmy 68 degrees. Imprint joyful visions of warmth and snowlessness in your mind. Then call them up anytime it’s so cold and dark and covered in snow that you can’t take it anymore.
Snow image by Flickr user Emily Mills. The badger photo I linked to is a Wind in the Willows illustration by Jeremy Norton.
