View from the North 40: Making winter not so bad - Psyche!

Psychologists have long lists of terms for what they — and we, the flawed masses — call coping or self-defense mechanisms because, in the end, we all have to do what we can to get through to happier, or less suckier, days. Like spring.

I’m not a big fan of winter. Even when I used to ski, it was just something I did because I was surrounded by both snow and mountains.

Ice fishing wasn’t my thing, but to be fair, fishing any time of year isn’t my thing. Snowshoeing and cross-country skiing feel too much like exercising to be fun.

Saddest of all, I’m a freakishly super cheap drunk, so even numbing away the winter with alcohol is out of the question.

I’ve tried about every coping mechanism there is to get myself through winter except, of course, moving, which would seem like the most logical thing to do, but I can’t seem to quit Montana.

Given that I’m stuck here, as far as I can tell it doesn’t matter where you live in the state, you have to figure out how to cope with winter.

You have more snow, more wind, less sun, no chinooks, colder temperatures, too many people just about everywhere — it just depends on your luck of the draw. Except the people thing. Once people have infested an area, they rarely leave and it becomes a problem all year round.

I’ve tried the most “primitive” coping mechanisms like denial — “What? This is nothing, just put on some layers and it’s just like summer.” Acting out — also known as swearing and slamming doors and stuff. Fantasizing — I’m still convinced that there is a spot in New Mexico in a secret valley at just the right elevation that has one month of winter, one month of miserable hot summer and all the other days are basically spring and fall.

I’ve tried the “less bad” coping mechanisms, like displacement — “I don’t hate winter. I hate the way morons drive in winter, like they can’t remember from year to year that ice is slippery. What’s that about?”

Surprisingly, the thing I have found most helpful is a more mature response — and believe me, no one is more surprised than I am that I have had a mature response to anything — but I try to put my plight in its proper perspective.

The internet has helped me keep a perspective on my miseries, both real and imagined because the internet gives me access to other people’s misery. Seriously.

I figure I should keep my mouth shut and my chin up when I see people in Maine using shovels to clear a solid 10-foot tall layer of snow off a roof.

Plenty of other places besides here have been the coldest spot in the state, or even the nation, this winter.

Wind coming across the Great Lakes is causing an ice tsunami. Yes, literally. Rough waters have broken the surface ice into great hunks of ice which the wind is pushing into an ice wave that has come ashore and is crushing everything in its path.

Roads have been shut down across the U.S., trains stranded, flights delayed. Eastern U.S. has had mud and flooding. Arizona got up to 6 inches of snow in much of their low-lying areas.

Proper perspective about winter helps me stop whining and start nurturing empathy for the hardships others are facing.

Except for Arizona.

I did point and laugh at that bit of irony. In fact, I imagined the snowbirds down there all cussing and swearing as they cleared away snow with brooms and their bare hands, while longing for the snow shovels and gloves they left at home. In Montana.

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I didn’t say I was a saint at http://www.facebook.com/viewfromthenorth40.com/.