Winter is Coming

For the legions of Game of Thrones fans, this phrase has been tossed about since the books came out and the show began airing.  It is a vague threat of something ominous, something that may start and never stop.  Apparently, in the land of Game of Thrones, when winter actually comes, there is no guarantee of when it will end.  The threat is that it will be insanely harsh, that many will not survive and that it will go on and on and on.  Maybe forever.  Well, for those of us who do not live in the Seven Kingdoms, we know that winter will end, although around mid March one starts to wonder.

For those of us who survived last winter on the east coast, there is some natural PTSD that lingers.  When the snows came in January and did not let up until well into the spring; when the drifts piled up in Boston above cars and windows; when many people could not get to work for days- it was a winter of epic proportion.  I heard a radio reporter announce recently she was creating a new rule. Not only is there no crying in baseball, but there is also no whining in political debates.  I’m going to add a rule to that list and say that there is no complaining about the weather in New England.

For those of us who live in the North Country, winter does indeed come every year. It shows up around the same time and is characterized by bitter cold, lots of snow and short, dark days.  So how does a person prepare?  Willem Lange is a wonderful local writer and storyteller.  He is very wise and salty and tells authentic stories of a life well lived.  He advises that there are three things that northerners need to do to get through the winter happily.  

First, they need a strategy to get outdoors.  That could be chopping wood, or cross-country skiing, or snowshoeing through the woods.  With a new puppy in our household, it is pretty much guaranteed that we will get outside every single day.  The next strategy is to have people to be with and enjoy.  I have always felt that New Englanders have cultivated the unique ability to hunker down and have good, meaningful conversations.  Perhaps the long winters have helped us learn this art.  In our family, we, like Jimmy Fallon love games.  Whether the game is Catch Phrase or Quiddler (my personal favorite) or Salad Bowl (a great party game), games bring people together when the winds are howling outside.  And the last suggestion from Willem Lange is to have something to look forward to.  I love this one.  If you are lucky enough to have the means to get away in the winter, planning a trip to some southern clime in the wintertime is a surefire way to keep your spirits up.  Getting off the plane in Mexico or the Caribbean in mid February is pretty much guaranteed to make your heart sing.

But the winter that happens somewhere between December and March is not the only winter that we need to prepare for.  What about those seasons of your life that you know are going to bring big challenges.  At my last company, BiddingForGood, we had two very busy seasons in the business.  The biggest and most demanding was in the spring.  This is high season for fundraisers and this was when our company went into overdrive.  We had learned after years of experience that it was going to tax the company in any number of ways.  We knew our team was going to be stressed and exhausted and would struggle to “keep it together”.  This is the winter of BiddingForGood.   So what’s a company to do?  Well not unlike the way New Englanders develop a strategy for gracefully surviving the winter, businesses can too.  Businesses can prepare themselves and their teams.  We encouraged staff to take time off when they could, to be as “ready and rested” as possible.  We tried to find ways to show appreciation for the extra work and extra stress.  Whether that was a constant supply of snacks or a fun holiday outing, there is always some way to tend to the flock and show them you care about their well-being. 

There are other "winters" that we experience.  Maybe it's bringing home a new baby. While this is one of the great joys in life, it also comes with a host of new stresses- sleepless nights, changing routines and priorities.  Or what about dealing with sickness or injury?  Managing health challenges can indeed feel like a long, endless winter. 

There is fine line between being prepared and being a worrier.  Some people get a big jump on worrying about what’s to come.  Some blithely go along, without giving any thought to what is looming.  There is probably a strategy somewhere in between.  Knowing what’s coming and having a plan for it makes sense.  Worrying about it before it’s even happened is probably not a great strategy.  A colleague of mine taught me the great lesson of “ only worry once”.  Don’t worry about something before it’s even happened.  Who knows, maybe El Nino will deliver and we will have a balmy dry winter.  Wouldn’t that be swell?  The odds are against it so I am going to make sure to have a plan in place.   I’ll be happy to see you, dear reader, in the woods on a snowy day or maybe gathered around the fire for a rousing game of Salad Bowl.  If we’re really lucky, we’ll run into each other on the beach in Mexico, tropical drink in hand.  And to that I say salud!