It’s that time of year. The charm and nostalgia of snow was gone by Christmas, and the winter breeze that used to give you a refreshing chill now has you frozen solid. This is no longer fun. Or maybe it never was.

Of course, this winter is worse than normal. Single digit temperatures are starting to look normal, and sub-zero is no longer just something the basketball team experiences when it goes up to the Upper Peninsula. 

Walking across campus involves putting extra layers on top of extra layers. There is no time to say hi to anyone, at least not while your nose is threatening to fall off your face.

The cold is getting inside our buildings, inside our bodies, our minds, our hearts.

This whole place has a case of the winter blues, and it’s time we said enough is enough.

We all need a little bit of inspiration. Is this why they created Groundhog Day? As if watching an ugly rodent crawl out of its hole should somehow convince us to do the same. 

I call bull. So if a smelly oversized rat can’t convince us, what will? I guess you have to find that reason yourself.

Maybe it’s a Spring Break vacation you’re saving up for – an escape to a place where not only can you feel your toes, but you can dip them in a pool or the ocean.

Maybe it’s the first thing you are going to do when it’s warm enough to be outside, like play golf or read a book on a blanket in the quad.

Maybe there is something you have been anticipating, like the Winter Olympics (which start next week!) or your favorite TV show, which can carry you through until winter is done.

Or, instead of looking forward to something that is going to happen, perhaps it might be helpful to focus all of your energy on something you wouldn’t normally do when it’s warm out.

Beat that video game that’s been giving you problems for months. Watch an entire TV series on Netflix. Read a book. Write a book. Do whatever you feel like doing, and don’t feel bad about staying in to do it, because let’s face it; it’s too cold to go outside.

Or, you could take the opposite approach. Throw caution to the wind and face winter head-on. Go skiing or snowboarding. Build an igloo. Have a snowball fight. Walk to the Rec with your workout clothes on. You’ll most likely get sick, but at least you will have gone down guns a-blazin’.

Winter is a bear, but as long as we’re here there’s no running away from it. Sitting around in a bad mood is not going to make spring come any sooner. And as much as we hate to admit it, this is what we signed up for when we decided to go to school here.

It isn’t all bad. The best part about winter is that it makes us appreciate the other seasons that much more. 

It also makes us tougher. At the end, when we get to enjoy that first fine day of spring – wear shorts, smell the scent of rain on fresh green grass – we can look back at all of the days when we had to grit our teeth against the wind and smile with admiration.

Whenever winter has you down, just remember: spring is right around the corner.