#WinterIsComing

Sorry to disappoint all the Game of Thrones fans out there, but this story is NOT about the beloved novel or TV series. It is about the winter season – the ACTUAL winter season.

Well before the excitement of the wonderfully written book-turned-tv-show stole the hearts of us fans, the phrase “Winter is Coming” resonated with pretty much every skier, snowboarder, toboggan-er, ice skater, snowshoe-er (how many more winter sports/activities are there?)…

We’ve probably all been asked a number of times “What’s your favourite season?”. I LIVE for the winter season. Seems strange, given how much time I spend soaking up the sun, relaxing by the pool or at the beach, or my need to scuba dive, but, surprisingly, my health is better in the winter than in the summer.

For us who live north of border, I know of a large number of friends who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (how geekishly pleased with their cleverness, was the person who came up with S.A.D. as the acronym for this condition??) and I’ve often been curious if I actually would fall into this category from a medical perspective. I suffer from the same symptoms as one with S.A.D., but during the spring and summer months, rather than the autumn and winter. But my symptoms are not
associated with a lack of sun or daylight. And I am not deficient in Vitamin D. It seems my “form” of S.A.D. is as a result of traumatic events from my past, strangely that occurred during the late spring and summer months.

And as such, with the approach of winter, I will find relief and again mentally pull further away from my S.A.D. feelings linked to such events that have devastated me. Luckily, I make good use of the winter days (and the shortened amount of daylight) with all the awesome joys our Canadian winters have to offer. I’m also grateful to live in a time, where the technical clothing available is superb and I can stay warm and dry. Strangely, I’m much more active during the winter months, than the summer. I suppose because I know the nice winter days are getting fewer and fewer.

So, for anyone who is as excited as I am that winter is less than 13 weeks away, just a heads up the Burton 2014-2015 winter catalogue got released in early September, and climate change could mean #WinterIsComing sooner than we expected.