Not all of us have the luxury and time to escape the cold whenever and wherever. This has been an especially harsh winter, a record setting one, the coldest in the past 20 years for Toronto with more windchill warnings and extreme cold weather alerts than I can remember. I don’t normally despise the cold, I love all 4 seasons but this particular winter has been much harder.
I started this blog with the intention of proving there’s always something fun to do in all year round, no matter what your budget but this weather has made me rather sluggish. Each winter, I try to go skating at least once a week. This year, I hardly made it to once a month. I feel like a hibernating bear most of the time. We’d go out for a nice dinner and we’d usually take a nice stroll afterwards to walk it off. This winter, the only stroll is a shivering walk back to the car.
I get into work and can’t wait to get out. I constantly remind myself that every day inches me closer to the weekend. But work normally doesn’t feel that way, I never minded it as much. But this year, the cold, the blizzards, the storms, the frost has extended my already 1.25 hour long commute. There has been so many days where I’m stuck in traffic wondering, what the heck am I doing?
Once I heard the news that the coming months will continue to be much colder than usual, I started sulking but I hate that the cold is keeping me from doing what I want so here’s what I’ve decided to do:
- I brought a treadmill so I can at least do light cardio while I watch my favourite shows
- I began exercising 2 hours before bedtime
- I took up golf lessons in the golf dome to spiffy up my game for the summer
- I’m looking forward to tennis lessons after my golf lessons
- I started looking up historical homes to visit, the City of Toronto has quite a few (see: Colborne Lodge and Gibson House) – it keeps you indoors, you get to learn – sometimes there’s hot chocolate in the end!
- And finally, I booked my Hong Kong trip for May so there’s something I can look forward to
The best thing to do in order to beat the winter blues for a traveler is to have something to look forward to. While May can’t come fast enough, right before bed, Carl and I try to do some planning for our trip and stay more optimistic about the weather. Also, staying active is an important way to keep me going. While I started off with a sluggish winter, hopefully it’ll end up as my most active one. Just remember, this too shall pass!
Safe travels.
Life Outside the Inbox 