Question of the day.

  OK, guess it’s time for some new question of the day, what do y’all think? 

   Simple one: 

   How do you feel about cold weather? 

   My answer: 

   I feel positively about it, in general. Way more than about hot weather for sure. Staying in cold conditions for longer can be difficult, but, unless it’s some really extreme cold, I think it’s a lot easier to deal with than heat. My brain and my whole system don’t really do heat. It makes my thinking sluggish and it makes me feel faint and weak pretty quickly and it makes my migraines worse, and sometimes when I’m in heat for long it even gives me nausea. And I’m just totally not a fan of that hot, clammy feeling. I’m the sort of person who has usually cold hands and feet, which I’m usually okay with ‘cause I’m used to it, so I don’t necessarily feel cold when I am cold, unless it’s night time, then I often need a hot water bottle because I won’t be able to fall asleep easily with cold feet. And I’m so used to the default state of my hands and feet being cold, that it feels really odd and kind of low-key disgusting when they get really warm, even if they aren’t sweaty or anything. Cold hands are a lot more practical. I find it a lot better to read Braille with cold fingers, though not necessarily really cold like freezing obviously. They’re also really good for migraines if you don’t have ice cubes or a cooling pad or whatever, or you can serve as a cooling pad for someone else afflicted with a headache, lol. 

   If you asked little Bibiel what was her favourite season, she would say summer without the slightest hesitation. I did indeed like summer a lot as a kid, ‘cause it was holidays time so I was at home as opposed to boarding school, or even when I wasn’t going to boarding school but to a school closer to home, I still always had school allergy and so summer months were very much welcome. Also you could go to the sea (which I still like a lot) or pick berries, which were my favourite fruit and we had a forest nearby. But now that I don’t go to school, I definitely much prefer winter because I just hate the heat. Even with all the introvert-unfriendly things about winter like Christmas and a lot of other celebrations in my family, I like the winter vibe a lot more. Oh, and I’m sure I’ve mentioned it a lot here that I have a weird affinity with ice. I just LOVE ice. Always have. When I was a kid, I dreamt of having a huge container filled with ice cubes that would never melt so I could play with them as much as I’d like. Would still be super happy to have such a thing. I love the feel of ice, the sound of ice cracking, the sound of ice in the glass with a drink (when I add ice to a drink I always add quite a lot of it and if there’s any ice left by the time I finish the drink, I just suck on it), icicles, everything! I even suck on ice when I’m really anxious because of emetophobia, like when I’m particularly triggered when someone in my family gets a tummy bug or something like that, ever since I heard that that’s what chemo patients do to avoid vomiting. I now know that it’s done more to keep them hydrated during those times, and I’m obviously not a chemo patient and don’t even vomit, but I find it helpful nonetheless. I suppose if I wasn’t blind and hadn’t such crappy balance, I could have been an ice skater or something. As it is though, the mere idea feels scary. 😀 

   Also, let’s not forget about the cosy aspect to cold weather. Isn’t it just so cool when you can stay warm and comfy in your bed at night, or sip on something hot while having some cosy slippers on while it’s snowing or even just raining heavily outside with the wind howling like crazy? Or even coming back home from such cold conditions, it feels really nice. I am particularly lucky in this regard because a couple years ago, my Mum made a pair of very fluffy overalls for me, which I really like to wear in the evenings, because they’re the only clothing item that my Mum made for me and they’re super fluffy. And there’s so much yummy food that is generally associated with cold weather, not to mention all the delicious Christmas foods. Some people think that cold weather is depressing, like my Dad for example, who says he’d be perfectly happy living somewhere hot like the Mediterranean countries or Latin America. But for me personally, sometimes heat can be more depressing just because of how it makes me feel physically, when I have no energy or even brainergy. So I don’t think I would mind it very much at all if I had to live in a really cold place like Finland, for example. I guess I would feel a lot more ambivalent about cold weather if I were a driver (like my Dad is, he’s a lorry driver), driving in winter conditions or when it’s foggy must be a nightmare. But even as it is, the snow and ice are still a challenge for blind people to get around in. Not only is it easy to fall, especially if you’ve got other things on top of blindness like the balance stuff in Bibiel’s case or like cerebral palsy that a lot of blind people also have etc. but also the snow can be really disorienting, because you can’t feel the ground under your feet and how it changes, which is often a very important cue in navigating, and additionally it can change the ambience/acoustics of a space where you are so it feels different than usual and might be confusing. Still, cold weather totally wins for me. 

   How about you? 🙂