There’s a drag that comes from lack of sunlight. That’s for real, and the lure of sleeping in on a winter morning is a real temptation.
I’m not a morning person. We know who we are. Years ago, I was in a carpool with a woman who was a morning person. I’m not sure she ever stopped talking for the entire ride into work. It worked out fine. She didn’t seem to mind that no one responded. Other than her and the driver, everyone else in the car was asleep.
This is how it works with me. I open my eyes, and even before the sleep fog clears, a whole litany of unwelcome thoughts line up for attention. Really…can’t I just get some coffee or OJ?
The thought that wakes us at 3 am feels like a heart-thumping immediate crisis. What if there’s a new killer COVID variant? At 8 am, it’s not quite as dramatic, more like a mental listing of every conceivable worry and bad outcome I might need to deal with that day, or anytime in the next six months, or the next six years.
So how does this relate to winter? In the winter, I wake and the sun’s shining through the shades, or it’s not, and either way it’s something to be happy about. Well, maybe not happy, but relieved. It’s something like the winter clause. I have good reason, loosely based on science or nature, to postpone, to hesitate, or to give in. To succumb, to hold back, put off, delay, and dispense, everything I don’t want to deal with, in effect and with great affection, on the pretext that it’s winter.
etikser 
That’s a beautiful winter scene! I’m mostly a morning person but having to quit coffee didn’t help!
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Thanks. I understand that. I mostly drink decaf, which is not the same, but first thing in the morning I need a bit of coffee with some caffeine.
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No caffiene in coffee is like beer with no booze! I had to stop because of my high blood pressure.
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If my head fills with dull or dark thoughts when I wake in the winter , and I get up early so it is dark outside , I tell myself that I will book a time later in the day to think about it . I choose a time, say 10:15 am and by the time it is 10:15 I can see my thought of the early morning is not worth worrying about.
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I LOVE that. You make me remember something from some mindfulness techniques from way back when…schedule a time to worry, and then the worrying won’t feel so overwhelming. Thank you. I really do like that.
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An anxious time that’s for sure, unrelieved by being able to go outside. But spring is coming…
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I think it’s a bad habit…worrying first thing in the morning. Getting outside more always helps.
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A prime time of worrying for those of us who worry.
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Yes.
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A beautiful shot.
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Thank you.
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These are two interesting observations: yes, the monsters that come haunt us at 3am certainly seem to be more horrifying than those that come later in the day… And, perhaps it’s the late sunrise that might be the reason be why those of us who aren’t morning people like the winter?
Your photo certainly seems to make the winter appear in all its glory: a gorgeous winter wonderland, thank you for the beauty and the observations!
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Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, and for your kind words.
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