Due to some unexplainable force, we had beautiful weather yesterday, didn’t we?

After enduring some rather chilly weather throughout the past couple of weeks, I had the opportunity to go outside without a jacket. It seemed like we were hitting the tail end of winter rather than heading into it.

I hope you all enjoyed it while you could, because that’s the best it’s going to get for a while. Winter is coming, don’t fool yourself. And along with winter comes the infamous holiday season. A time to share great moments with loved ones, a time to receive some really neat presents. And for some, it is a time to become depressed.

Many people find it very hard to believe that someone would become depressed due to the holiday cheer that exists at the end of the calendar year. But for some, a time to be with loved ones can be very difficult if nobody is there to be with. Having nobody to share your love with, especially at a time that is set aside for such activity, could drive a lot of people to do something drastic.

Thankfully, I have family and friends to be with during the holiday season. So things are not terrible. But I might have reason to worry about the remainder of 1995. There are plenty of things that might have enough power to bring me down.

Let’s start with now. There are less than two weeks until Thanksgiving break, which brings about temptation to count down the days until I can lounge around my parents’ house for a week. This will happen despite the fact that my grades are only OK, and I should be worrying more about bringing them up rather than how long I have until I can further procrastinate my studies.

Then there’s Thanksgiving itself. I am usually involved in a constant battle with the munchies, but on the fourth Thursday of November, I find myself waving the white flag … and pigging out. Weeks of willpower victories are instantly squashed with a blitzkrieg of turkey, mashed potatoes and wonderful desserts prepared by my mother, the best chef in the whole world.

Defeat actually doesn’t sound so bad in this case. But the casualties will be counted when I step on the scale following our Thanksgiving feast. I’m scared.

As I mentioned above, the weather is going to turn on us. Soon, my ice scraper will no longer feel neglected in the back seat of my car, and the grand streets that we drive on will be soon covered with a layer of attractive sand. How wonderful!

It’s not that I hate winter. I’m such a sentimental sap; if it’s not snowing on Christmas Eve, then I feel a little bit cheated. And some of the more comical moments of my life were spent on ski slopes (snowplowing is not my forte). But an inevitable part of winter is that I’m going to get sick.

I have taken steps to try to prevent illnesses, mainly by wearing a stocking cap. Not only does it keep my head warm, but I was under the impression that it was a pretty cool look for me. However, due to the intense amount of scrutiny I received from some of my fellow Daily cohorts, I don’t dare wear my hat around anymore. So to avoid embarrassment, I am inviting the common cold to inhabit my body. It’s a double-edged sword, isn’t it?

With my luck, this illness will hit right around Dead Week, which has been affectionately called “I’m Dead” Week. Studying for finals is difficult enough for me without having to blow my nose every two minutes. And since I blew off my studies during that time before Thanksgiving (not to mention September and October), I have made my final exams into do-or-die situations.

Plus, when I’m sick, I need a lot of sleep. This completely goes against my regular sleeping pattern, which consists of being unconscious between the hours of 3 a.m. and 8 a.m. To combat my illness, I need a lot more than five hours of sleep per day. Therefore, my late-night cramming style of studying will have to be drastically changed. Habits are hard to break, especially one that I’ve practiced for three and a half years of college.

I know that I sound like I’ve been listening to my Cure albums non-stop, and it’s had a serious effect on my mind-set. But the truth is that none of these things are going to bother me enough that I will do anything stupid. Sure, I’ll be worried about my classes and the cold weather will be a drag at first, but it’s nothing to get upset about.

Even on my worst of days, there is always something that happens that makes the day worth living through. And there are some days that make me go to bed happy that I was around to experience them. To be honest, I’m much more frightened of dying than of the trials I have to face in life each day.

If you’re going through some tough times, remember that each new day brings a chance of improvement. Take time out for yourself, or talk to somebody you trust to brighten your day. A drastic measure should not be considered. After all, it’s hard for your day to brighten up when you’re six feet under.

Christopher Clair is a senior in journalism mass communication from Waukon.