Get Mentally Ready for Winter

Summer is over, and fall has arrived. That means you can trade-in your T-shirts for sweaters and your lemonade for apple cider. And if you live in a place with a particularly rough winter, it’s time to start preparing yourself mentally for a few months of snow, ice, and the sun that sets roughly five minutes after you’ve finished your lunch break.

There are people who thrive on those kinds of winters, of course. They’ll jog five miles through the snow with a smile. They consider walking on ice an adventure. They don’t even mind blizzards because blizzards mean more snow for the ski resort they visit every weekend.

These people are not the norm. It doesn’t mean anything is wrong with them, but for most people, winter is at least occasionally tough on the brain. If you grew up in Michigan and now live in Wisconsin, you’re probably a little better equipped to handle it than people who were raised in Texas and moved to Boston as an adult. The environment we grow up in does a lot to shape what we consider “normal.” In the South, schools shut down for two inches of snow, because they just don’t have the infrastructure to deal with that. In New England, however, schools don’t shut down unless there’s a major ice storm.

So think of your brain like a city. What sort of mental infrastructure can you build to deal with winter in the most efficient way possible?

Vitamin D deficiencies are incredibly common in Northern populations. If the sky is gray and the sun is in hiding for five or six months out of every year, you’re not going to get the natural sunlight your body needs. So get to the drugstore now and start buying Vitamin D supplements. If you aren’t sure how much you need, talk to your doctor, and get your Vitamin D levels tested. You want to make sure you’re taking just the right amount to keep you going during winter’s darkest days. You don’t have to stop with Vitamin D, either. Now’s a great time to explore other dietary supplements as well. You want to get into a routine of taking your vitamins well before the first snowflake hits the ground.

Then it’s time to think about your winter driving skills. There are some driver’s ed programs that make their students practice driving in icy conditions. You don’t have to like driving in snow, but for the sake of your mental health, you need to know that you can do it when called upon. If you’re not feeling very confident about it, grab a friend who’s from the area and ask them for advice and/or driving lessons. They’ll probably tell you to drive slowly. Don’t get in a hurry. Increase your following distance; January is no time for riding someone’s bumper. If people are passing you, that’s OK. Any boss worth their salt will understand if you’re a few minutes late to work.

Speaking of salt, start stocking up on rock salt now. Few things are more dangerous than an ice-covered sidewalk in the early morning hours. You may also need to use some of it in your driveway at home. The city can salt and plow the local roads (hopefully they have plenty of money in the budget for that this year).

If you aren’t sure about winter tires, talk to your friends and coworkers. If most of them think it’s a good investment, then head on down to the tire shop. If you decide not to get winter tires, look into siping your existing tires.

If you’re already looking into getting a new car, it may not be a bad idea to get one that can handle winter conditions better than what you’ve got now. An all-wheel-drive vehicle is much better in snow than a front-wheel-drive vehicle. If you live in the greater Cleveland area, the average annual snowfall is around sixty inches per year, so pay a visit to Bob Gillingham Ford and ask about their best winter vehicles. As a bonus, vehicles like the Ford Fusion come with options like heated seats and side mirrors.