Take a Zumba Class This Winter

When we are hit by a sudden a startling cold wind in early September, and even a snowstorm in Calgary (when it is still, technically, summer) we cannot help but reflect on the long winter months that lie ahead.

If you're like me, this change in weather might be making you look forward to the great new fall clothes you bought in August (those ankle boots are just screaming to be let out of your closet), the beautiful mix of yellow, orange and red adorning the forest, and of course pumpkin spice lattes.

But once winter arrives, there's no getting rid of it until spring, and you're faced with the prospect of months and months of snow layered over ice so thick, you wonder how on earth it's ever going to melt. The snowbanks are as high as your house, and you practically need a chainsaw to make it out of your driveway. You snicker at the guy on the radio urging you to take advantage of the season by engaging in winter sports, because you a) hate skiing, b) can't see the point of ice-skating because it's nothing more than going round in circles, and c) the kids are too little for snowshoeing anyway.

Therefore, there's nothing left but to allow yourself to sink into a crippling depression as you look out your window at the grey, misty sky thick with the promise of ice and snow, again. Which will promptly be pushed onto your front lawn, adding height to that snowbank you've been cursing inside your mind over the past weeks.

Or, you could take a Zumba class.

Seriously, if you haven't discovered Zumba yet, sign up for a class now. Before you give in to the urge to spend your evenings sitting on the couch, wrapped up in blankets and watching the entire series of The Game of Thrones for the third time, repeating in your head over and over the phrase "Winter is coming."

Zumba is so effective in driving away the winter doldrums, it's a wonder psychiatrists don't write up prescriptions for it. The combination of upbeat, fast-paced music (much of it Latin), the dancing and the pure energy emanating from everyone in the room is enough to make your feel like you're at a midsummer party in the Caribbean.

Plus, if you're trying to lose those few pounds incurred by ingesting bags of Halloween chocolates and pumpkin lattes (and who isn't?), it's the best way to do it.