I was driving through the countryside with a friend last month, admiring the orange, autumnal views. Leaves fell on the dashboard window, jazz played through the aux, and warm Biggby coffee sat in my cup holders. It felt like something straight out of “Gilmore Girls” until my friend broke the scene.
“I can’t believe this will all be gone in just a month. I hate Michigan winters.”
It’s time to stop dreading Michigan winters.
I’m ashamed to say I may have agreed at the moment, but a guilty feeling stuck with me after our conversation.
It would be easy for me to say I also dislike the cold slush of a Midwestern January day. I’m from the Sacramento Valley, a place that will always remind me of state office frying-pan parking lots and drought-ridden olive tree orchards — not exactly a scene out of a snowglobe. Growing up, people would “go to” the snow, not live in it.
I can remember the first time it snowed my freshman year at Hillsdale. I woke up to what was in hindsight a thin dusting of snow on the ground. I called my mom in a panic, not even sure how to walk in this extraterrestrial terrain. She responded with the grogginess of someone awakened at 4 a.m. Pacific Time Zone, “Just get outside and go. You’ll be fine.”
We can all learn from my mom’s sleep-deprived candor.
Sure, the Michigan winter can be an inconvenience. I’ve labored to help friends get their cars unstuck in the snow. Despite this, there is an inherent beauty to the cold weather that I’ve grown to love, especially as an outsider looking in.
As the days grow shorter and the temperatures drop, we should not complain about the burden, but rather take the dark and the cold as reminders to rest. The modern work schedule spreads the lie that to give anything less than our absolute best is to fail. Nature tells us this is not true, that we must live our lives in seasons. Even the trees cannot be green year round, and we call them beautiful for it.
A gorgeous snowlined walk quite literally forces us to slow down. It tells us to stop and stare at the ice-glazed branches above our heads, at the softly falling snowflakes following our path, at our frozen breath reminding us we are alive. We should relish the cozy mornings in bed, the afternoons spent at the sledding hill, and the hot chocolate evenings by the fire. None of this is wasted time if understood correctly.
There are even health benefits to the cold months of the year. According to a Stanford University study, a drop in temperature can assist with brain performance and impulse control. The American Journal of Human Biology states that cold weather reduces allergies, drops blood glucose levels, and can even improve sleep.
There’s truly nothing like a Midwestern holiday season, stretching from Thanksgiving to the New Year. It brings a sense of anticipation as people rush through airports, stomp through the snow with their presents to their cars, and exchange hugs in parkas. This is one of the few things Hollywood gets right, through its nostalgic “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and “A Christmas Story” renditions of a heartland holiday.
When you’re tired of the slush and gray, take it as a time to have the indoor fun you’d been meaning to do at a busier time. Read a classic book, take a dance class, visit a museum, or perhaps more realistically, catch up on your studies. There’s always room for that at Hillsdale College.
The next time you’re trudging up the hill on a 10-degree day, cursing the winter, take a moment to pause and appreciate the still, monochromatic wonder around you. It won’t be here for long.
