Cold sucks has been my mantra for most of my adult life. I grew up in a snowy Connecticut wonderland and having been a transplanted Wyomingite for a decade now... you'd think cold might be my thing. Wrong.
I was raised with countless weekends on the ski slopes, but somehow along the way to adulthood I lost the want to be wintering outside. There was far too much of it in these long, meandering Wyo winters. Too much uncomfort, too much hiding in the house from it and WAY too much waiting for it to be warm. {Past Bria was apparently super whiny.} BUT a few months ago I put a deposit on a trek to Everest Base Camp in 2020 with one of my most awesome{st} friends. You know our lovely yarnist? Yep, her.
We made our final ahhhh... we're going decisions and I promptly said well, sh*t.
Dear cold - Let's rekindle this thing. Love, Bria
There are many, many {many} hikes planned for the next year in preparation for this crazy yoga, meditative, trekking trip, but for me the first one was the most important.
The day of our first hike I bundled, layered and fretted... truly worried about being three miles down the trail and just literally scared of being cold. What a wiener I am, right?! {Was, guys, I was a wiener! Keep reading.}
We hiked under the glorious {windless} Wyoming sky for a few hours and I was amazed at how not cold I was. Really, bordering on something that felt like... hot {what?!}.
Aside from being freshly invigorated by the ample amounts of crisp fresh air, I got home and found myself a bit introspective. Have I lost a decade of hanging out with nature just because I had some crazy fear of being cold? Way to go, Bria.
I don't think I've ever actively reframed my view of something just because I wanted to. Over the past few {gasp} cold months and with 6-ish hard, chilly hikes under my belt, Winter and I are officially friends on. I'm SO trying not to look back negatively on the last dozen winters spent under a cloud of longing for summer, but eagerly looking forward to exploring every other Wyoming winter I am lucky enough to find myself in.
I guess progress is being able to look back at past Bria and give her some advice to put a jacket on get the hell outside. Better late than never, right? :)
