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Shoulder seasons can be hard...we hope this is a reminder to let yourself have fun!

I don’t remember what exactly made me change my mind. 

But, one cold, dark, November afternoon, an idea popped into my head. 

It was just a few days after Daylight Savings ended, and I was driving home from work in the dark. 

To be honest, I wasn’t feeling that great. I had been dreading the next few weeks- that awkward period that comes every year in Vermont when any of the remaining warmth and light of fall has been drained, but before the snow falls. 

My favorite fall activities– biking, running, climbing– were going to either be impossible, uncomfortable, or just plain difficult to motivate to do now that it was getting so dark and cold. 

What am I going to do for the next month? I didn’t want to let myself slide into negativity so on that drive home I made a snap decision. Rather than wish it away, I was going to consciously embrace this shoulder season. The cold, the dark, the limbo period. I was just going to welcome it and make the most of it.

As soon as I got home, I unburied my yoga mat that had been collecting dust. I jogged over to my local Hot Yoga studio for their free class for first-timers.

The walk over was chilling and dark but I was eventually enveloped in 95+ degree heat that was almost dizzying at first.

The challenge of that first class was exhilarating. On my walk home, the biting cold didn’t bother me. I was hooked.

This became a weekly ritual. I soon began to look forward to the freezing walk under the yellow streetlights, because it meant I would be sweating it out by candlelight in no time.

Finding a new activity like this made the shoulder season exciting, and I found so much joy in a new challenge.

Fast forward a few months, a great ski season has passed (with plenty of hot yoga classes mixed in!) and I find myself at the beginning of another shoulder season: spring. In Vermont, spring means it’s snow squalling one day and birds are chirping in the sun the next. It’s inconsistent, it’s messy, and it’s honestly a long haul until summer.

But, to really embrace shoulder season you have to be willing to tough it out, have fun, and laugh things off. On a warm day last week, I went for a run down at Burlington’s Intervale center. It was still a bit icy on the trails so I was taking it slow. Suddenly, the ice cracked and I fell in the 6 inch deep puddle, completely soaking both of my shoes in chilly water.

Huh, that was cold, do I turn around and go home?

Then and there, I made the conscious choice to laugh it off, embracing the chaos of shoulder season and I kept on going for what became a beautiful albeit wet and muddy run.

Embracing shoulder season in Vermont means being flexible, ready to jump at any opportunity the weather provides, and smiling and having fun through it all.

Biking one afternoon because it’s warm? Skiing the next day because there’s been new snowfall? Heck yes!