Good Day Sunshine

I hate Winter. I like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but that's about where my tolerance ends. If winter only lasted for a month, I'd be OK with it, but instead it drags on for an additional two months. And they are arguably the worst months of the year.

For a long time, I was opposed to Autumn as well, just on principle. I would get irritated when people said things like, "Hooray, Fall is here!" or "Yum, pumpkin spice lattes!" or "I'm so excited about cardigan weather!" I wanted to grab them by the collar and yell, You fools! Fall is bullshit! Winter is on its way! Also, you probably don't even like the taste of pumpkin. It's actually nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger that you're excited about.

Seriously, though, people need to calm down about pumpkin. It's a nearly inedible gourd, guys.

Anyway, over time I have loosened up about Fall. I can enjoy the changing leaves and crisp air without immediately being filled with despair. I still hate Winter, though. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I have seasonal depression, but there is something about the short days and the awful weather that make me start to think that life will never be good again. What's even worse about my hatred of Winter is that I live in the South, where the Winters are about as mild as you can get and still be able to formally call them "Winter." Imagine what would happen to me if I lived in Canada.

Here, let me illustrate for you the difference between Winter and Spring. The other day, I was out driving. It was 75 degrees, the sun was high and bright, I was barefoot and I had the radio turned up loud. Suddenly, I felt a tightness in my chest. Oh no, I thought, I must be anxious about something. What did I forget? Am I missing an important appointment? And then I realized that the feeling of fullness and expansion in my heart was not anxiety, but rather something that people often refer to as "happiness." Winter made me forget about it, but Spring is here to remind me at last.