The Start of Winter

I am reminded of Tim Bendzko’s single Winter, which came out in 2016, where he leads the listeners into a hovering melancholy, just at the start of winter. This being my first complete winter experience, I don’t know what to expect. Of course, I have been told endlessly that winters can be brutal—and for sure they can be. Just the first few days have been nippy cold, and it is about to get worse. The sun sets now by 5 p.m., and most of the days are just gray and wet, with snow showers here and there.

For me, there is some childlike innocence to how I perceive this natural phenomenon, and it excites my soul to wake up and see the snow covering everything, reflecting a strange but beautiful light over it all. I am yet to see how this affects my moods, but as an introvert, I feel this is going to be an enriching experience—one that prompts me to spend some time inside and find ways of doing some internal reflection on how to live with more intentionality.

I am grateful for this experience, but I am also worried not that the cold will overwhelm me, but rather how the cold affects other people, which in turn could affect me. The world feels negative already, and I am not sure if or how this could be exacerbated by the winter. As Tim Bendzko sings:

Woran soll man glauben,
wenn die Liebe nichts taugt
wo ist die Zuversicht,
wenn man sie braucht?
Wie kann man verbergen,
dass das Herz gefriert?
Der Winter ist hier.

“What should one believe in, when love is worthless? Where is the confidence, when one needs it? How can one hide the fact that the heart is freezing? Winter is here.”

Either way, I want to remain positive and keep the warmth going, and I am grateful to have the basics I need to go through this season. Happy Thanksgiving.