Top Three Ways to Survive Winter

Just. Two. More. Months. **collapses onto floor and starts convulsing due to lack of sunlight** Thanks for this list, 1grobanite! —SparkNotes editors

During the summer, there's so much to do: cabins, swimming, sunshine, drive-in movies, bike rides to your ex's—I mean best friend’s—house, parties. People are tan and happy. What could be better?

But suddenly, the bell rings and school begins. People shuffle aimlessly through dingy hallways. Homeschoolers sit and cry when their friends no longer call during the day. Teachers spout pointless knowledge, the cool third hour science teacher is starting to shrivel and become dry and humorless, and the cafeteria food looks like it has for the last 10 years of our lives: contaminated.

Considering how miserable we were in the fall, and how much more miserable we've become in the winter, perhaps the average teen needs some ideas for what to do while we wait. Ooooh, sounds like list time:
1. Try to find a regular event that you look forward to, such as morning Starbucks (just that word evokes happiness!) on Mondays and Tuesdays, because they are, undoubtedly, the worst days of the week. Try not to overindulge, or you'll kill that paycheck you got from Taco Bell last week.

If you don’t like coffee, set aside something you do enjoy, like a weekly movie at the cinema, or a secret meeting with your best friend in those sweet fitting rooms in Aerie. Anything to keep your mind off the snow…ugh. Gross. Can you believe you thought it looked PRETTY in November!?

2. If you’re not already in a sport, join one! They are great time killers. You soon find yourself thinking of ways to better your mad skills and work out those abs, which takes your mind off the 5-page paper due next week. What’s more, when swimsuit season finally does roll around, you’ll be perfectly prepared, while your friends consider the “I-am-not-going-to-eat-for-two-weeks diet.” And when your mom yells for you to shovel the driveway again, you calmly reply, “Mother, you’re forgetting I had a game last night and a 6 a.m. practice this morning. I’m far too tired.”

3. If weekly treats aren’t your thing and you’re completely un-athletic, try crafting. Sewing, painting, sketching, pottery, glass work, papier-mâché, home-made lip balm, headbands—the possibilities are endless. Not to mention crafting is addicting. You’ll find yourself constantly having this urge to finish your sock monkey collection. You’re not crafty, you say? Ha! Who said you had to be crafty to craft? (And who says you must be athletic to play sports, and who told you that you have to be prom queen to ask Jake to see Avatar with you? Huh? They can go dig a hole.)

Just as suddenly as that first bell rang early in September, the spring will arrive. And now, you'll have many friends from all your activities!

How do you waste away the winter?

Related Post: Ten Reasons Winter Should Be Over