Life north of Bloomington is pretty quiet at this time of year. The streets are snow lined, with houses puffing out smoke as their furnaces work to beat the cold.

The Ballantrae soccer fields are covered in snow, their tall nets like winter sentinels awaiting the next season of enthusiastic players. Preston Lake is frozen, and visions of adults and kids playing in the water or drifting by in boats seem a lifetime away.

Time is a funny thing. When you are young, days can stretch like an eternity. The older you get, the faster time seems to fly. From my own experience I know that the cold, snowy and gloomy winter will disappear, just as we start to embrace the couch potato lifestyle.

To survive the winter blahs you must have a game plan based on attacking the portion of your brain that controls reason. Winter does not go on forever.

Do you really miss mowing, raking, digging and weeding ? Who really enjoys all those outside work projects? In warm weather, sitting down with a good book or playing on the computer is ruined by guilt at not getting the chores done.

Now think heat, and I mean scorching, suffocating heat, the kind that turns your nose a blistering red in minutes. Remember sitting on car seats so hot you could have sworn your butt sizzled? And what about mosquitoes and other bugs that attack you when you are minding your own business on a comfy lawn chair?

Forget the warm sun and lawn chair and summer fun; negative thoughts are mandatory. This is an essential strategy in tackling the blahs and soothing the yearning for winter to end. Take time to look out your window and feel all the warmer as you stay at arm’s length from all things white and snowy.

Now the tough and painful phase of beating the blahs. Look at yourself in the mirror and assess the damage. Once you recover from the shock, think about making some positive changes  before you ditch winter cover-ups for more revealing summer wear.

Follow the above with a countdown to spring and watch the days fly by. The countdown is not mandatory in fighting the blahs, but it does help show the progress you are making. When lack of sun and cold temperatures threaten to break your spirit, you are not alone. Sooner than you think we will throw the boots to the back of the closet and hunt for our flip flops.

In a couple of months the rural roads will be loaded with lilacs in bloom and winter will be gone and forgotten. For now, take heart, follow the advice above and we will all survive the blahs together.

Categories: Columns, Ramblin' Ruth
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