We are at the point in Winter when many people proclaim they are “over it.”

I get it.

There is just over a week left in February. We’ve been experiencing the cold, snow, and ice for several months now. This Winter in Minnesota has been especially unique, with its relentless levels of snow (there are giant piles of it everywhere you look) and its completely inescapable ice.

Today, as I walked with my Yaktrax secured on the bottom of my boots, I nearly fell several times, but caught myself…until, right near the end of my walk, I just went DOWN, quickly.

Walks have been like this nearly all Winter.

Usually, these treacherous conditions are mostly present nearer the end of the season, in the transition to Spring, during the freeze/thaw cycles that create plentiful water from melting snow and ice, then new ice when that water refreezes, and so on.

I’ve fallen to the ground several times already this year.

Our car has struggled just to get places we need to go.

Simply getting around has been challenging.

And now, as I write this, a massive storm/blizzard is headed our way. Over the past few days, the meteorologists have been speaking about this storm in a way that makes me think they’re not going to be wrong this time. Apparently, all of the models they use have been pointing to this storm’s arrival, and its likelihood of at least one, maybe up to two (!) feet of snow is almost assured.

With those kinds of numbers, of course, they’re telling us this storm looks headed into the Top Ten of largest storms of all time in Minnesota, perhaps even the Top Five.

Knowing all of this ahead of time, before it even starts, is an interesting experience.

You can kind of imagine what it will be like…but not exactly. You actually have no idea what to expect, really. Yet, the way everyone talks about it certainly has the power to shape your expectations.

What has been apparent to me, in this experience, is that we are SO not in charge. Many people have been throwing their hands up, saying they can’t take it anymore, saying they want Winter to be done.

But we live in Minnesota.

And it is February 20th.

And Winter is very much not done yet.

So really, why are we spending one bit of our precious energy spinning in that kind of feeling/thought tornado? What a waste, ultimately, right? Energy expelled and spun-out to no productive end. There is literally nothing we can do to stop this storm from coming. So. Why not just embrace it?

Is there really another alternative?

Besides spinning ourselves into a tizzy and creating a storm within the storm for ourselves?

I’ve been through so many storms already this Winter.

I don’t need or want to create any more.

So I will embrace and be grateful for the snow to come.