When Perspectives Change

I hate winter.  In case I haven't said that already, I really do.  I hate winter.  To me, the only time it should ever snow is when you're on a mission to ski or snowboard, and there is never a reason for it to be below freezing - ever.  Point blank.  Punto.


When I was little, eight I think, I told my mom I was moving to Florida because I hate the cold.  The obscene dislike for snow and cold hasn't changed, but my moving to Florida has.  I grew up.  Responsibilities showed up on my doorstep as quickly as the days changed, and I started to realize the whimsy of the childhood ideal of moving had fine print attached.  


At first, I found a job and felt I was just biding my time until I could decide where to move and / or find a job in a different, hopefully warmer city.  Then, something amazing happened, things changed in my life that made me start to enjoy being here.  I had a revelation at work today, walking through the halls of my school freezing, having to do with acceptance.  It hit me that, although I'm cold more often than not, the cold is temporary.  Normally I can find myself in warm houses or warm cars, after the heat has kicked in of course, and that even though winter may be four months too long, I love Chicago, and the only other place I would want to live right now (NYC) is just as cold in the winter.  So, really, I'm not getting away from the winter or the cold anytime soon.  The best thing to do?  Buy a heavier coat, start enjoying preppier clothing, like button-up shirts under cashmere sweaters, buy waterproof boots and warm mittens instead of the non-waterproof suede shit, and start enjoying all the things that make you happy about where you are instead of wishing yourself away to somewhere else.


Now, does this always work?  No.  People move and change their lives because they really need a change.  Maybe it's a new job, a new boy/girlfriend, or just a dire need for a change of pace, and it's important to accept the need for those things and follow them in the direction they take you.  It's equally important, however, to realize that no situation is perfect, and that, so long as you are happy in most of your life (maybe it's for one of the same three reasons listed above), the things that you saw as monumentally "bad" might now seem like only minor complications.  Plus, that's why God invented vacations, for when you really really do need to change things up a bit.