Balancing act: Readers share ideas for beating winter doldrums

A reader named Georgia also sent a good list of ways to beat the winter blues, including hikes up Millcreek Canyon to escape the bad air; trips to the bowling alley to escape the cold; sitting around the fireplace at the new East Millcreek library; and enjoying hot steamers and good conversation with a friend at a coffee house.

Another reader posted a comment online to tell me about a friend whose activities follow a similar theme.

"After the crazy scheduling during the holidays she uses January and (February) as a time to reconnect with friends," this reader posted. "She hosts dinners and gets together to get caught up with friends who don't live as close. It is a nice way to keep in touch with friends and a good time to have something social on the calendar."

Many of you suggested such human connections as the key to overcoming the winter blues, and that makes perfect sense to me. While it's true that misery loves company, I have found that joy does, too. Hopefully we'll all have plenty of the latter as we bundle up and push through the remaining weeks of winter.

And who knows? Maybe this year the groundhog will be right.

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