Winter Hates Me and I Hate Winter

I have a new enemy.

Winter.

I live in a cold climate.  Today is -18C (-1F) with a windchill of -25C (-18F).   The cold itself is tolerable ... afterall, I was born and raised in this climate so it's not like it's a surprise.  I own a full length down coat, I own knee length snuggy boots, hats, gloves, scarvesheated seats in the car ... I'm prepared for winter.

But I'm not prepared for the new me + ice, or the new me + slush.  Ice and slush are slippery. I have no balance.  A very bad combination.

This past weekend I was out for dinner on Saturday night.  When I left to go home it was raining ... not a torrential rain, but enough that the wipers kicked in.  I got home safely, tucked myself into bed and enjoyed a good night sleep.  I woke up Sunday morning to an overnight flash freeze.  The temperature had dropped from +5C to -8C (41F to 17F) overnight and had frozen all the rain.  My driveway was a sheet of ice.

I looked at my car parked in the driveway.  I looked at the driveway itself.  I looked at the 4' of driveway that I had to traverse to get from the walkway to the car. I turned around, went inside and cancelled my movie date.

I wouldn't have given this weather a second thought last year, but now, it is my worst enemy. I have lost all confidence of walking on anything that looks remotely slippery because of my balance issues.  If I can trip over myself just walking down the hall indoors, what is ice going to be like?

In the last three years, as an able bodied person, I've fallen twice, HARD, because of ice. Just walking to my commuter train in the dark in the morning, and not really paying attention. So, you can imagine why I would be tentative as a not-so-able-bodied person.   For now, I chicken out and avoid it. If not physically, mentally I need more time to believe I can handle the slips, falls and near misses that winter entails.