One of the main reasons I love summer is that I never have to think about what to wear. I throw on shorts and a t-shirt, and I’m good to go. But that time of the year has passed for now, at least in Germany. Now you open the window in the morning, and a wave of cold air rushes in.

Before I go out, I do the very same. To check how cold it actually is. How many layers I’ll need to wear. The house is also a bit colder, of course, and the heating isn’t on full blast just yet. The air can get a bit frigid here and there, but after you keep everything closed for a while, room temperature slowly settles in.

No matter how much I might complain about them, these literal cooldowns actually make me think. Not just about what to wear, but about how to behave in general.

When it’s warm, the laissez-faire attitude extends beyond my attire. It’s easy to let your guard down when you’re comfy. That’s not always a bad thing. But the cold has a way of activating our senses. We look out, think ahead, and make our choices more carefully. If those same traits also shape me beyond what I’m wearing, perhaps winter has its benefits.

Adversity’s job is not to bring you down entirely. Most of the time, it’s simply a coach hoping to whip you into shape. Let the cold, literal or metaphorical, sharpen your senses, and appreciate your heightened awareness.

Nik

Niklas Göke writes for dreamers, doers, and unbroken optimists. A self-taught writer with more than a decade of experience, Nik has published over 2,000 articles. His work has attracted tens of millions of readers and been featured in places like Business Insider, CNBC, Lifehacker, and many others. Nik has self-published 2 books thus far, most recently 2-Minute Pep Talks. Outside of his day job and daily blog, Nik loves reading, video games, and pizza, which he eats plenty a slice of in Munich, Germany, where he resides.