Winter. A lot of people love it and a lot of people hate it. There are not too many people that are somewhere in the middle grounds between love and hate. If you know me at all, you know that I am fully on the hate side. I hate winter and just about everything about it, and I hate it more and more as I get older (I am only 21, so that’s a problem for future 65-year-old me). Here is a list of reasons why I hate winter, and yes, it is for more reasons that “it’s cold.”

1. Ice.

This is probably the biggest reason that I hate winter. I hate ice with everything in my being. But I have good reason to hate it — I fell 4 years ago and broke my tail bone, like, snapped it in half. I currently have a bone floating and any amount of pressure on my lower back causes me to wince. Also, I have arthritis in my spine from that same fall--- I had a compression fracture in one of my disks and it healed wrong. Also, can I just mention how many accidents the ice causes? With cars, people, animals, etc.

Ice = disaster waiting to happen.

2. Everything takes longer.

Think about it, everything takes longer in the winter. You have to clear off your car before you can go anywhere, you have to layer on the clothes and winter gear before you can step outside. Winter shoes take much longer to put on than flip flops. You have to clear the drive way. You have to drive slowly DOWN the icy driveway (but quickly UP it). You get stuck in the snow/ ice. People drive like idiots when the roads are bad.

3. The cold.

I know that I said that this is not the primary reason I hate winter, but it is most definitely part of the reason I hate it. I can’t feel my face. I can’t feel my legs. I can’t feel my nose. My lungs get cold. My heart is cold and my soul gets cold. Any kind of heavy breathing due to those inclines or a stuffy nose/ sickness leads to a coughing fit due to cold weather. My left eye waters profusely when it is cold out — I don’t know why and I know this doesn’t happen to other people, but it has happened to

me as long as I can remember. I just tell people I am allergic to the cold. This eye-watering thing is a pain. It messes up my makeup. I get asked if I am crying so much that I want to cry. And one last thing, the runny noses. WHY!?! Why does my nose run from the cold? I’m constantly sniffling and if I have to look down when I go inside, I have to sniffle more and more because it won’t stop running.

4. The people who love winter.

Most of them get all pushy and tell me that I have to like winter. They get all cheery and say that it’s so pretty and beautiful and majestic. Stop it. You’re making me irritated with your positivity. I don’t push my love of summer all over you.

5. Season affective disorder (AKA seasonal depression).

I have this and I hate it (I haven‘t been diagnosed, but I am 99.999% sure). I am significantly sadder from about October until April. I am always tired. I have a lack of vitamin d and I get sad and numb. I don’t want to be outside. I don’t want to see other people very often. I don’t want to leave my warm bed. I just want to hibernate, drink hot cups of coffee, binge-watch "Law and Order: SVU," and read good books. And unless someone/ something (demands, etc.) stop me, I will hibernate like this. It’s miserable and I cannot stand it.

6. Daylight savings time.

Everything is dark all the time. It’s dark in the morning. And it’s dark again at 4:30 p.m. I just miss the daylight. That’s all. I am always tired because it is always dark. Ugh.

7. Snow.

It makes everything gray outside. Sure it’s white and pretty until someone walks or drives in it. It’s gray and miserable. It makes clearing off the car a pain. And it hides the ice.

These are some of the reasons that I hate winter and I have been counting down the days until spring since October. I just want the daylight and sunshine back.