March 29, 2024

Getting Through the Winter

Rehoboth Ramblings

Posted

 It’s hard to write something upbeat these days; in fact, it can feel downright frivolous this winter. That deeply disturbing violent rampage at our nation’s Capitol in January felt like a punch in the gut to anyone who truly cares about the state of American democracy. Then, though we are looking forward to having proven vaccines for this miserable virus, the long-awaited vaccine distribution systems got off to a very rocky start. Hope that things will get better soon in this department. It’s certainly a massive project. I’ll pass up using the word “unprecedented” since we’re all tired of hearing it.

Meanwhile, mask-wearing and staying away from people as much as possible are still as necessary as ever, in fact more so. Once again, a note of deep appreciation to all the front-line people out there. Last time, I forgot to mention all the thousands who volunteered for the clinical trials for the various vaccines, an essential part of this whole process. Thank you.

But it sure feels like winter out there. I’ve been reading a book, a series of essays really, called “Wintering” by English writer Katherine May. It is not about going somewhere warm for the winter. Subtitled “The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times”, it’s about getting through low, sad times in your life. These can happen any time of year, as we all know, and for many reasons. The author wrote this book a couple of years ago but the book is certainly finding an eager audience this winter with all we have been through and still are going through. She recalls some pretty scary times in her own life and talks about how she got through it, and includes some nature essays about such creatures as bees and wolves.

            The theme of “Wintering” is accepting, rather than fighting, the sadness and distress we feel, in the hope that things will get better. She speaks of acceptance as a positive emotion, not    resignation, which sounds negative and defeatist. I’ve had this feeling in my own life: that when you are going through a bad patch, the best way is to just accept that this is the way things are for the time being and that you will get through it somehow. Just do the best you can.

The author’s most intriguing observation is that what helped her most was all-weather swimming in the sea. Ms. May lives near a beach a few miles north of Canterbury and like a number of people in England and elsewhere, she has taken up winter swimming. Apparently this is becoming quite a thing in certain northern areas. Though at first the freezing water gave her a terrible shock, she found with perseverance that very short swims (stopping well short of hypothermia) gave her a real boost. Apparently such activity is shown to reduce tension and improve the swimmers’ general sense of well-being, providing something of a natural high.

Do I want to try this extreme cure for winter blues myself? No, I can’t even look at videos of folks diving into freezing water for one of those Polar Bear events for charity. I walked on the beach in a cold headwind at Fogland in Tiverton in mid-January and had a terrible sinus headache all the next day and I certainly didn’t go in the water. Though I do wonder, what would happen if I just tried wading? Probably not much except frozen feet.

But if it’s not too cold and windy, it’s good to get out into the bright winter sunshine for the fresh, brisk air and the mid-day light. While the nature trails I would like to explore right now include the Wakodahatchee Wetlands in Delray Beach and the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, not to mention the Everglades, I know that’s not going to happen this winter. No, this isn’t a good time to travel. Although I’m not crazy about snow, it’s best to make do at home these days.

Winter sunsets are often stunning too, red, pink, gold, blue, purple and lavender all at once, and this goes for New England just as well as Florida. Now it stays light past 5 pm and the evening light will only increase from now on. Daylight savings time returns on March 14. Whatever happens in the coming weeks, spring (and warmer weather) will return as always. Sometimes that seems like miracle enough.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

Share!
Truly local news delivered to every home in town