0 Degrees °C Cold - A Matter of Momentum

Cold. 

I mentioned how I love a chilly night. Well, today is cold, bone shattering cold. In the morning when I was typing, my wrist started to hurt. Right now, I am typing beneath two layers of clothing, one light down jacket and one polyester base layer. I am rather puffy. 

Brilliant Sky - picture from my Pixel 2.

Mars. 

Somehow walking outside today gave me the feeling of walking in space. I mean I have a puffy jacket that is kind of like a spacesuit, and the cold wind feels fitting for the Mars environment. The streets are also devoid of visible animated life forms. 

When I was outside, I started thinking about the words that they repeated at Boy Scouts: "You can live 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food." I always disagreed with it. You can probably live a week without food, but three weeks? That is pushing it a little. But three hours without shelter? I also wondered what that means. It probably means three hours without clothing or shelter in cold weather; I looked it up on the internet, and it is three hours under extreme exposure. That is a bit more believable. 

Soul crushing. 

Nature is a formidable force. I usually go out to run when I have time, but now with the sun setting at 4:30 and the nearly freezing temperature, I did not want to go out at all. I sort of swayed back and forth between staying indoors and going out for half an hour before finally going out. 

Desolate Leaves - picture from my Pixel 2. 

Challenge. 

When I was a little kid, I always said I wanted to live in a place with four seasons. When I was a little, I was super excited by snow. However, I feel everything changing now. Perhaps it is the pull of adulthood towards conformity. 

I am less excited about snow. I do not go sledding anymore. I do not like walking on snow, getting my feet wet, and shoveling in an extremely bright environment. I have second thoughts about living in a place with four seasons. 

Nevertheless, I take a step back and see the cold weather as a challenge. Life without change isn't really a life. Life means living. Living means survival. And cold is simply a challenge for survival. In our day and age, survival in cold is easy: central heating and warm clothing. Survival should not be a problem. Still, the cold urges me to pause and think about life, change, conformity, and survival.