Fighting Back At Winter

Well, it's officially 2019 and we are in the dark cold months of winter. If you know me, you know I am a shorts and t-shirt kind of guy. I like to come home from work, get shorts on and take a 45 minute bike ride to decompress. In the spring/summer/fall months I do that as often as I can.

So when winter rolls around, I go into a sort of inner-funk. It's not a depression per-se, but I can certainly see it from here. There's something about the dark/cold combination that wears on me. If I had an unhealthier nature, I could become a real slug and never do anything from November until March. I've found I have to work at staying active or pay the price with pants that are too tight and butt prints embedded in my living room chair. Not good, either of them.

In an effort to keep my sanity and not sleep for 15 hours a day, I do a few things. All of them are "fake it till you make it" solutions to staving off the blues. So far so good.


  • I walk to work pretty much every day except Thursday. This is largely because if I didn't I literally wouldn't see the sun for more than 10 minutes a day. This way I get at least an hour.
  • I take a vitamin D tablet every day. I call it my happy pill. I don't know if it helps anything, but it is sort of my sun replacement. Once we're past the Winter Solstice, my mood improves ever so slightly. Knowing we're on the upside, is motivational.
  • Because my pants were tight at the waist,
    I started lifting weights in my basement. My basement is a dank, cold place, so you get a feeling for how desperate I am to have to resort to going there to get a workout in. I don't do gyms because the only place I'd be less likely to go to than my basement is a gym where I'd have to get in my car and go workout.
  • I've become a fan of going up to bed nearly an hour earlier than I do in the summer. From there I'll read for a bit and then sometimes shut the light out a half hour earlier than in summer. I've decided its OK to not have to stay up and "be productive." Rest is okay and I think in some respects that's why God gave us winter. A time to slow down.
  • A friend gave me a Lambeau Field Stormy Kromer hat that I have taken to wearing indoors when the wind is bad. It is very warm and despite looking like a 6'4" Elmer Fudd, I've come to love it.
  • I drink a fair amount of herbal tea, egg nog and dark beer in these months. Part of this habit has triggered the need for working out and I understand that it's cyclical, BUT I NEED IT! Ha!
  • This weekend I will attend the All Canada show. It is an indoor expo where I'll go with a friend to plan that trip for 2020. Sometimes just looking at pictures of unfrozen lakes and people holding big fish to keep a person going.
  • I surround myself with lots of friends on occasion. It helps.
  • I count every day without snow as a blessing. 
  • Same for every day above 32 degrees.
  • If it does snow significantly, I plan on getting out cross country skiing. If it doesn't though, I am really okay with it. Really, I am.
  • Wool socks. Big fleeces. Slippers. They help.
So that's a little of what I do to keep from putting my head in the oven during the dark months. If you've got additional ideas, I'd love to hear them. Because we're still about 90 days from any kind of relief.

Blogging off...

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