Gone for Winter

I have a problem with the northeast.

For many people, it’s a fun way to enjoy the summer and travel up to experience the small towns along the shoreline while soaking up the hot sun and fun atmosphere. 

Everything just seems a bit more lively.

Which is why winter is such a bummer.

As someone who has lived in Connecticut my entire life, it’s hard not to notice the rollercoaster of emotions you are thrown through as summer transitions to fall, and then to winter. 

It often feels like some of the best days of your life, to ultimate depression and sadness.

And this isn’t just a northeast thing. Almost everyone, everywhere gets SAD, not sad but seasonal affective disorder, when shorter days and less light cause people to feel depressed. 

Plus, it’s hard not to notice, especially when we go from having long days outside in the nice comfortable air, to getting tired at 5:00 pm cause the sun already went down half an hour ago. 

All life seems to just die in the wintertime, and it’s becoming a problem in the northeast.

States like Connecticut are now seeing population stagnation, the Nutmeg State having a mere 0.1% increase in 2022 versus the previous year. 

Similarly, states like Massachusetts are seeing a 0.1% decrease in population, with residents moving out Southwest. One former MA resident says "What I like about living in Arizona is of course, number one the cost, number two the weather," she said. "You don't shovel sunshine!" (Wade CBS News).

And she wasn’t wrong, the cost of living in the northeast has only increased over the years, with the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center finding the cost per living index ranging from 110 in Maine to 148 in Massachusetts (baseline 100). 

So not only are people feeling unhappy during the wintertime, they’re paying more to experience it.

Don’t get me wrong, I do love the Northeast, and I doubt I’ll ever leave, but more often than not states down south are sounding better and better, being both warmer and cheaper overall.

What is important is that we, as citizens, vote. Not just in elections and for politicians that will incite meaningful change, but with our wallets as well.

I would normally say that there isn’t much we can do about the cold, but it looks like we’re unfortunately already fixing it through global warming. 

There will be a day when I walk through Hammonasset State Park for the last time, and even though I enjoyed my summers there far more, it doesn’t mean I never had a good winter.