This Spring, Aaron's mood is unusually low. Yet, a surprising confession reveals it's not for the reason he initially thought.
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Story created & performed by: Aaron Calafato
Senior Audio Engineer: Ken Wendt
Additional vocals: Cori Birce
Art: Pete Whitehead
Original Music: thomas j. duke
Transcript
S4 E27: Where Did Everybody Go?
Aaron Calafato:
Springtime is right around the corner. It's warmer outside, it's lighter outside, and flowers are starting to bloom. People are feeling great. Me, on the other hand, I'm feeling a little down. Springtime is making me feel a little down. Now, why is that? I mean, you're going to listen to this and you're either going to nod your head and go, "Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. You're not alone, Aaron." Or you're going to listen to this and go, "What the hell is wrong with this guy?" Either way, take this journey with me right after the music.
Cori Birce:
You're listening to 7 Minute Stories with Aaron Calafato. This is season 4.
Aaron Calafato:
When things come out of wintertime and get a little bit warmer, people lose their minds. It's like the greatest thing that's ever happened. We hit 40 degrees in March, maybe 50, maybe 60. It's been a warmer winter this past winter. Little too warm for me. I'll get into that in a second. My whole point is, at 40 degrees, you got people putting on sunscreen and sunbathing on the roofs. The convertibles are out. People are in swimsuits. It's 40 degrees, but it's because people have been waiting for that sun, for that warmth to come out of the freeze.
Me, on the other hand, I'm going back inside to the basement waiting till it gets cooler at night. Now, here's the thing. The reason why this all exists, the reason why I feel this way, is just a natural temperament I have. So let's start there. My favorite temperature, and anybody in my family knows this, they're going to go, "Oh God. Not again." Because I tell them every week. My favorite temperature is 58 degrees and partly sunny. 58 degrees and partly sunny. The partly sunny is important. I don't want full sun. I don't want direct heat. I like warmth.
When it's hot outside, I'm the guy you're going to find under a tree looking for shade, enjoying the light and the warmth, not the direct. I like the indirect, not the direct. If I'm at the pool, if you find me at a pool in the summertime, I'm underneath an umbrella. I have sunglasses on. I'm covered up. I just don't like the heat. I never have. What I love about 58 degrees and partly sunny is it's a perfect balance. It's cool. You can wear a t-shirt. You can wear a hoodie. At nighttime, it gets nice and cold. During the day, the sun warms the earth. Perfect for me.
But something has changed with me. It used to be that spring and fall, because of the whole 58 degrees and partly sunny, that's where you get those cohort of temperatures usually. I'm starting to like fall and winter as my favorite seasons, and I'm starting to get a little down about spring. Well, first, I've been able to enjoy winter more because I just started dressing like an adult. Now, this presupposes that you have a coat, that you have socks, that you have a few extra sweatshirts. For those that don't, totally get it. But if you are privileged to have a coat and a couple of sweatshirts, wear it. I know I had to do this for myself. I never did. I was like my kids now, my teenagers. I'm freezing in the wintertime. You're wearing a t-shirt, dress like it's wintertime. And once I started doing that, I was like, "Oh, I kinda like the winter or at least I can endure it."
And here's another thing, the keyword "endure" it. One of the reasons why I'm leaning into winter and enjoying it even more is I like the fact that I have to earn my spring. I like the fact that people in the Midwest, we have to earn our spring. That's why people lose their mind in springtime as soon as it cracks 40 degrees because they've earned it. They've endured the cold and the tundra, and now it's time to come out of their shell. I love that aspect of it.
The other thing I love, I love going out on walks especially now in the wintertime. I walk all year long. I walk about 2 to 3 miles a night. And I do it through the summer and the spring, and that's why I do those in the evening because I don't like the heat. And in the fall, it's beautiful, but I've loved it even more in the wintertime. But here's why. It's not just the walk. It's not that I'm now embracing the colder temperatures. It's because there's no one out. See, this is something I've realized and I was ignorant to before. I noticed that when I would walk in the wintertime in my neighborhood, there are very few people who come outside, not just at night, but at all.
Now I live in a neighborhood with some older folks. So I understand if you're elderly, you're staying inside, get that. And I understand people who are snowbirds, they go down to Florida. But I know for a fact that maybe 10%, 20% applies to the people in our neighborhood. There are some non-geriatric folk who just don't come outside from December until March or April. We're talking 4 or 5 months. I'm not talking about playing in the winter x games and snowboarding. I'm not talking about running a marathon in the wintertime. I'm talking, I don't see people leave their homes to take the trash out. I know it's happening. I don't see it. I don't see them get in their cars. And it just hit me like a ton of bricks. And I asked myself, on one of these walks, "Where did everybody go?"
And here's my guilty confession: I liked it. I like the fact that I have a peaceful, meditative walk in the cold winter with the moonlight hitting the snow and the cold air refreshing and replenishing me. I like the solitude. I like not having to move off the sidewalk and account for, "Oh, sorry. I hope your dog doesn't bite me." And, you know, people I don't know, "Hello. Hello." These things. Now this makes me sound terrible.
And I actually was assessing my own self. I said to myself, "Aaron, why do you like the solitude so much? Why do you like walking alone? Do you not like people?" And the fact of the matter is, I love people. I am a situational extrovert, but I love people. So why? And I think I found at least my answer and maybe you can resonate with this.
We live in a culture where whether we know it or not, we are perpetually available. And the reason why is because of that computer you carry in your pocket or have in your hand or that you're scrolling through. I carry the same one. And the fact of the matter that it's on or that you have one makes you by default, makes me by default available. So it's constantly being on and the constant calls and the constant text. And it's not a bad thing. I love the connection. I love being able to reach out to people when I want to or when they want to. I love the consensual nature of connecting with people in meaningful ways, planning times to talk or meet up. I don't like vapid text threads of memes and things that I don't really care about or want to engage with because I want to engage in a meaningful way.
I think that's why I love the wintertime in my solitude. It's because I can kinda reclaim the ability to turn off once in a while. And for me, I need that time to turn off. So that when I am connected with people, I appreciate it even more and I'm a better person because of it.
I hope you enjoy the spring that's coming right around the corner. And here's to warmer temperatures, preferably 58 degrees and partly sunny.
Cori Birce:
7 Minute Stories is created and performed by Aaron Calafato. Our senior audio engineer is Ken Wendt. Our resident artist is Pete Whitehead. Original music by TJ Duke. If you or your company needs help starting a podcast, Aaron and Ken's company, Valley View, does just that. Reach out to them at valleyview.fm. Special thanks to our partners at Evergreen Podcasts, and I'm Cori Birce. Make sure to tune in next week for another story.
