Saturday, January 2, 2010

The Power of Attitude - An Experiment

Well, here we all are - it's 2010! I remember being young and thinking about how old I would be when it was the year 2000 and now I'm even a decade older than that! I could be just kidding myself, but I do think I look younger than my age so that is comforting. And if I am in fact just kidding myself, for heaven's sake don't tell me!!!

So I was thinking today about how much I hate winter. I love summer, spring, and fall but I totally detest winter. I used to live in Tucson for 5 years and those winters were awesome. I used to go hiking every New Year's day and it would be like 70 degrees. Now, I'm back in the midwest and I have to endure approximately 4 months of cold and snow every year. No walks. No sitting out in the sunshine. No gardening. Horrible!

Anyway, I was wondering if I could change how I feel about winter by trying to make myself have a good attitude about it. A positive mental attitude can be a very powerful thing so it's worth a shot. In pursuit of this goal, I'm going to try to list and reflect on as many things as I can think of for why winter is awesome. Here we go...

1. You can make a snowman.
2. Spring bulbs don't come up until they have gone through winter's cold spell.
3. You save time on gardening that can be channelled into more time for exercise.
4. Christmas (and Santa Cookies) happen in winter.
5. New Year's gives one a chance to make a new start.
6. Fires in the fireplace, hot chocolate with whipped cream, cashmere sweaters and socks, cuddely blankets and throws.
7. The Superbowl happens in winter.
8. It's a comfort food time - hot soups, mac & cheese, meatloaf, baked goods.
9. You can go out without doing your hair since you can just put a hat on and no one will think anything of it.
10. You have to suffer through winter in order to get that wonderful feeling in spring like your heart can soar and all good things are ahead. I never got that feeling when in Tucson.
11. You can plan next year's garden.
12. You can focus on fixing up the inside of your house or clean closets and get organized.
13. Laundry that you air dry will dry about 3 times faster.
14. Snow can be pretty.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. If you have any others, let me know. Now I'm going to try to reflect on at least one of these every day until spring and we'll see if my attitude changes toward winter. Here's hoping!