This is the first substantial snowfall we've had all year as well as the first substantial snowfall of my homeowning history. Anna was smart enough to buy us a snow shovel. And somehow I found the motivation to use it.
I never had to shovel before. I have shoveled snow in small quantities to dig out cars, but I had never tackled a whole driveway.
Bummer.
After about thirty seconds of shoveling, I hated God. I was so small. And there was so much snow. And my hands were cold. And I could feel my muscles starting to get angry. And I really wanted to stop because it sucked balls.
I started out shoveling in short spurts. I had to keep stopping to breathe and ache, which wasn't working out at all. I also realized after a while that a lot of the snow I was shoveling was slopping back on the driveway. And that the piles I was trying to toss the snow on to were getting further and further away. And everything was looking pretty bleak.
I pushed through it, though. After a while, I got into this total shoveling meditation groove. My mind went completely blank except for constant analysis of the task at hand. All the white noise disappeared. Everything faded away. It was just me and the driveway.
I even came up with improved methods of snow shoveling. I ended up changing my approach completely. Instead of stopping when I needed a break, I would snowplow the loose snow with the shovel to give my arms a rest. I also started shoveling with a more consistent plan of attack to avoid loose snow from slopping over onto parts I'd already shoveled. And really? That worked out a lot better in the grand scheme.
AND I found a solution to my cold hand problem. I started out putting my hands in my armpits to warm them up. But it wasn't warm enough. So I tried my neck. But it wasn't warm enough. Finally I put them on the small of my back and my quality of life improved tenfold. It must be the surface area.
I hated it at first, man, but it ended up being pretty incredible. For a couple hours, everything in my entire world shrank down to the consuming business of moving snow from one place to another. It was so much simpler than my real world.
And sometimes? It's really nice to take a break.