Alaska

Snowmageddon dampened my girlfriend’s outlook on Alaska. How can I turn things around?

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By Wayne and Wanda

Up to date: 2 hours in the past Revealed: 2 hours in the past

Expensive Wayne and Wanda,

This winter has impacted my relationship large time. My girlfriend of some years is fed up with these heavy snowfalls and received’t cease speaking about wanting to maneuver. She has all the time liked Alaska and up till the previous few weeks she was tremendous enthusiastic about her household arising for New 12 months’s. We’ve got a rental in Fairbanks, and so they had been all stoked about seeing the northern lights.

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However the current snowfalls have actually impacted her. She doesn’t need to exit. She’s defeated by the snow load on the roads in our neighborhood. She retains speaking about transferring. She doesn’t appear excited in any respect about her household’s impending go to.

I do know this main load of snow is hard and I perceive why it’s bringing her down however — that is Alaska! That is why we’re right here! For snow and excessive climate and all the opposite issues that make us robust and fascinating. How can I discuss her off the ledge? And the way can I get her to seek out this enjoyable and never burdensome?

Wanda says:

Little doubt this can be a robust time for us all — a time when we have now to work for the fundamental stuff, like transferring from level A to B, or being comfy outdoors. That’s Alaska for you. All of us who’ve dedicated to this place as dwelling acknowledge that there’s a diploma of sacrifice. We are going to completely cope with chilly climate, dangerous roads and a great deal of darkness.

[Anchorage is buried in snow. You have questions. Here are some answers.]

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However, we additionally take pleasure in buckets of sunshine come summer time. No state or gross sales tax! PFDs! And we take pleasure in a captivating small-town ambiance throughout an area so extensive that we actually have lower than one individual per sq. mile in Alaska.

So, gently supply perspective. This winter, objectively, hasn’t been superior. A lot of snow, a lot of interruptions to life. Folks have been caught at dwelling for days with driveways blocked by oppressive snow masses. As we hopefully emerge from this, discover methods to be supportive and reinforce what Alaska has to supply. Take path walks, go hunt the northern lights, go ice skating, snowboarding — reconnect with the explanations you adore it right here!

Wayne says:

To not make gentle of your state of affairs, but it surely’s good to place the shovel down for a bit, relaxation my again and easily use my fingers, mind and laptop computer to dig somebody out of hassle. And just like the seemingly nonstop, repetitive shoveling of each floor round my dwelling and neighborhood, and pitching in to assist buddies and strangers do the identical, there’s quite a lot of work forward on your girlfriend to get out of her hunch.

This might be critical. These storms could also be her breaking level if she suffers from seasonal affective dysfunction, melancholy or each. If that’s the case, she’ll want much more than your enthusiasm and per week of Alaska extremes to elevate her spirits; she’ll want skilled assist and your understanding.

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Hopefully, you and Wanda are proper — sometime quickly, after this loopy every day snowfall ceases, after our every day sunshine will increase, and after a couple of weeks of comparatively “regular” winter life on the whole, your girlfriend’s emotions about Alaska will shift. Nevertheless it received’t be at present, as all of us dig out from one other foot-plus of powder and our metropolis is at a standstill as soon as once more. And it received’t be in a couple of weeks, whenever you take somebody very upset about Anchorage’s winter on a Fairbanks trip to remain in a wierd dwelling and stand round outdoors for a couple of darkish, 20-below nights hoping to see the northern lights. What’s the Christmas morning warmup earlier than the New 12 months’s particular? A household snowblower?

For now, we’re all uninterested in the snow and this unusual stretch of winter — even me, and I really like love love snow and winter! Many, like your girlfriend and nearly any guardian of stranded kiddos, are actually struggling. So as a substitute of attempting so laborious to make her love Alaska once more, strive being supportive and empathetic about the place she is correct now and the place she’ll be within the days and weeks forward. That is her well being and your relationship we’re speaking about right here. Postpone the northern lights expertise for an additional time, and level that aircraft south to Hawaii, Mexico or any heat, snowless change of surroundings. Good luck to you, your girlfriend and all who’re coping with this wild winter.

[Finding fortune in the immediacy of an Alaska winter]





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