Sunday, December 6, 2009

Surviving the winter Blues (CONVO magazine- Nov'08)


Summer seems to hold a special place in everyone’s heart; people are just more cheerful and colorful during summer months. Everyone is more alive, even when killer hot, it’s as if repulsed by their own homes, everyone's in the streets, and the city never sleeps. People just never seem to get tired- like they know they’re torturing themselves but they like it!- they’d work like crazy all morning and still manage to enjoy a late night out with friends. Every year people come to realize that it’s over much too soon and before you know it people turn grey. I guess it’s a common belief now that winter is for work and summer is for fun that once it’s autumn people split into two types; some refuse to wear heavy clothes because by that they’ll be admitting that summer is over. While others passively accept the fact and go through with the whole hibernation process even though it’s not January yet!
The Syndrome
And as the days get shorter, the cold nights get longer, announcing winter’s arrival and breaking the spirits of many. You see people walking down the streets silently depressed, hiding under their clothes, rushing to get home before it rains. For winter abolishes the sense of accomplishment in many, they feel that the day is over even before it begins, it seems like there isn’t much time to do anything thus they end up doing nothing. It’s no wonder why lots of people hate winter! It’s because of the rarely seen sun that they feel down but they’re not alone in this. For "Winter Blues" is a milder form of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) that’s a well spread syndrome affecting millions of people each year, women are more pretentious of course since men seem to be almost unaffected by anything. Though it’s not the same for everyone in terms of severity as for some people it comes in a severe depression form requiring medical care, it affects almost everyone but in milder forms. I bet you’re familiar with the "It’s too cold excuse" where we blame it all on the weather like we don’t attend early classes because it’s too cold, we can’t get out of bed because it’s too cold, can’t think because it’s too cold, gain weight because it’s too cold to exercise. But it’s weird that it’s never too cold to eat chocolates, pastas and every fattening food there is thus combining that with the no exercising policy we’ll be small cute elephants roaming the streets of Cairo!
What I won’t be telling you?!
There are many ways recommended on which you can beat up the winter blues but they’re all themed "re-live summer through winter" and I hate that! Sufferers are told to soak up as much sun as possible, listen to cheerful music, try outdoor activities, etc… It’s as if trying to teach affected people how to forget it’s winter. I don’t think that’s a solution, putting aside that I favor winter, change is the only constant thing in our lives; how on earth can we contradict that?! I understand that it’s difficult to move out of any comfort zone and that if possible we’d stay there forever. But when you accept change there’ll be a tiny possibility that you might like it, even if you didn’t summer is always around the corner which you’ll get to appreciate more now that you’ve lived through winter.
So how to enjoy winter as winter?!
Simply by accepting winter as it is because believe it or not winter has its good shinny side! You can start by picturing winter as a ladder through which you can reach whichever goal you’ve been trying to aim like loosing weight, you don’t have to wait for spring to shed the extra pounds, enjoy the fact that in winter one gets to wear coats that pretty much covers everything so get it over with before it’s summer again and if it’s still "too cold" to leave home you might as well work out there. Winter is a calm, dormant season where you can overlook your life, rejuvenate, read books, attend training sessions, grow on spiritual levels, I mean since winter is seen as a working season, you might as well benefit from that! And you can always invite friends over for a nice movie, walk in the rain and enjoy a hot cup of coffee mixed with the morning cold breeze, there’s nothing like it to take your mind off troubles.
But don’t hate winter, it’s as beautiful as summer and like the summer’s burning sun, winter has its biting cold. Enjoy winter as it is because it might not be the same next year, for no winter last forever and no spring ever skips its turn.

4 comments:

Mohammad said...

Can anyone actually hate winter?

lobna khairy said...

Yes!Unfortunately lots of people hate winter because of the cold and the hibernation phase everyone goes into add to that the flu that many fail to avoid each winter...

Mohammad said...

But it can be beautiful! I mean like today when it's raining! But yeah, I guess I'm sort of hibernating all year so maybe that's why I don't mind it :)

lobna khairy said...

looooooooool (",)