I hear many people complain about the fact that “winter is coming”—of course, when they aren’t making a reference to Game of Thrones. While it’s true that the winter season does bring some discomfort, it doesn’t make sense to vehemently think about the negatives of an inevitability—winter comes every year, and there’s a lot to look forward to.
Winter brings a seemingly endless supply of snow which, when it’s not muddy and slushy, embellishes many of the trails in the city. During late fall/early winter comes Christmas, one of the most celebrated holidays of the year. Winter also opens up multiple seasonal sporting opportunities like skiing, ice skating, and snowboarding among others. Apart from the outdoors, it’s a great time for get-togethers indoors around a fireplace with hot chocolate, s’mores, or marshmallows – something unique to the season since the weather encourages it. Some of the more obvious changes, like the significantly shorter days, can be a deterrent to productivity, but it also pushes us to utilize the hours of daylight to their fullest. For me, having a routine of waking up early in the morning helps keep my mind energetic, and it’s also fascinating to notice the gradual shift in the time of sunrise—from late in the morning to early, as the season progresses.
The biting cold, especially in Waterloo, is also challenging and poses some discomfort. But,at the same time,extreme cold affords an opportunity for us to dress smartly in our best dresses. Layering up when going outside is a very effective way of keeping the cold out and enjoying the white landscape around us, with the sun rays glistening on the snow. Being from India—a tropical country—I find myself reminiscing, during spring and summer, about winters and how magnificent it is to have an environmental phenomenon like snow around me for months. Moreover, I find myself always on the move during summers, which can be physically and mentally taxing. Winters provide a convenient buffer period to kick back and relax while preparing for the summer as well. While there are certain inevitable drawbacks of winter like reduced sunlight, occasional gloominess, blizzards, black ice and shorter days, it’s beneficial to focus on the other positive doors that winter opens for us.
Winter, to me, is a very bitter-sweet season. It has undeniable charm, but requires us to be mentally and physically resilient to the challenges it brings. Nevertheless, I think that winter, like all other seasons, has inherent beauty which should be embraced before the cold winds and flurries disappear, leaving us to think about what could have been done while it lasted.
