Cold sore
Commuting or not, working during winter can be a drag
Think working in winter is tough? Imagine if you’re still getting used to a winter climate. Renee Opal says that ever since moving to Chicago from Sarasota, Florida, she’s learned to dread the first three months of the year. “It’s just bleak here,” says Opal, 41. “It’s cold and dark and just depressing.”
Opal’s feelings are shared by many. Just look at the expressions on the faces surrounding you when the sun doesn’t appear for a few days. Pretty glum, right?
Opal’s current weather-related feelings are a big departure from her previous thoughts on January, February and March when she lived in Florida. “People there complain about the winter but it’s tongue-in-cheek, like ‘oh, it’s 65 degrees outside. I can’t go swimming,’” says Opal, a pharmaceutical sales representative. “Here, when people complain about the weather, it’s 10 degrees and they’re complaining because they’re freezing. That’s a completely different kind of complaining.”
Robert Prescott has been in tune with weather patterns for years. The current financial consultant and former HR manager says he used to schedule company events during the winter months because it gave his company’s employees a well-needed break from the doom-andgloom of Chicago winters. Prescott says he also pushed for later start times, shortened days and increased flexible scheduling.
“Employers aren’t necessarily responsible for their employees’ moods when it’s cold outside but what they do can go a long way to improving productivity and morale,” he says. “Flexible scheduling is a big plus in the winter. If you offered people a day or two to work from home, you would be surprised at their level of productivity. Now that it’s a regular thing because of COVID-19, it’s a little less certain but still, to not have to commute to and from the office saves a lot of time and a lot of stress. Workers instead can just stay home and work in their own surroundings.”
Nina Elliott, a freelance graphic designer, says one of the perks of her job — even before the pandemic — was that she could work from home during the winter months. “There’s something so depressing about dragging myself out of bed in the dark and walking to the L on a morning that is void of color,” Elliott says. “I’d rather keep my pajamas on, make a cup of coffee and get right to work.”
Elliott’s partner, Rita Dane, is also a freelance designer. Unlike Elliott, she would rather work in a busy shared workspace than her quiet apartment, regardless of the temperature. “I find that if I have a lot of work to do, being in the office and surrounded by the buzz of activity is a helpful way to deal with the crappy weather outside,” she says.
Stay busy
Prescott says there’s validity in Dane’s stay-busy approach. “I used to work with a marketing manager who was hell-bent on practically doubling the amount of work his employees did during February and March. His theory was that the busier they were, the less likely they were to be affected by the weather. It seemed kind of archaic but I have to admit that it actually worked,” Prescott says. “People who worked with the firm for years knew that they spent February and March doing a lot of planning and writing numerous proposals. They had too much work to do and deadlines to meet to dwell on the weather.”
Opal says she enjoys staying busy when it’s cold outside simply because there’s less for her to do in the outdoors. “I’m a pretty avid walker and it’s just harder to do that when it’s cold outside. I like walking in the sunshine, even if it is a little chilly,” she says. “I kind of get a longing for those walks in the winter but if I’m busy I realize it’s something I really can’t do at the present moment so I just keep my head down and get back to work. People tell me to snowshoe and embrace the cold but no thanks. In my free time in the winter, I’ll just watch TV.” But walks can go a long way to improving Opal’s mood, says personal trainer Lorenzo Rendi. “I think being outside is the great equalizer,” says Rendi, 34. “It does something to your body that keeps your equilibrium in check.”
Get out there
Rendi says he speaks from experience. “I started taking walks during lunch to lose some weight and I found that even when the weather was lousy, there were still smells and sounds and sights in the outdoors that you just couldn’t get inside while sitting at a desk,” he says. “I’m not saying a 10-degree day with no sunshine is the perfect setting for a long walk in the forest preserve but it’s still better than sitting at a cubicle.”
Rendi’s lunchtime walks helped him lose nearly 70 pounds and transitioned him to a new career as a personal trainer in which he never forgot the lessons of his initial fitness strategy. “Being outside, even when it’s freezing out, makes a huge difference. Just getting out there and breathing the air can put your mind at ease,” he says.
Opal still isn’t so sure. “When I’m outside these days I’m walking as fast as I can to pick up food or do some quick shopping,” she says. “I don’t think of it as therapeutic in the least bit. I think of it as getting from point A to point B and at least amount of time so I can take off my hat and my gloves and begin to feel like a human being again.”