I Thought The Cold Was The Worst Thing About Canadian Winters But I Was So Wrong

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.

As a newcomer to Canada, if there's one thing I've been dreading all year long, it's the winter weather.

I moved here from sunny Dubai and it's hard preparing for Canada's winter weather when you can't even comprehend how cold the temperature is going to get.

However, armed with advice from close friends and family, I scoured the best places to buy winter jackets and other winter accessories.

Shopping all done, I thought I was ready for the worst of what Canadian winter had to offer. I was wrong!

That's because I had thought the cold would be the most terrible part of the season. But when November came around, I realized the thing that really threw me off the most was the dark.

For context as to why this is so confusing to me, even though the sun does set earlier in the winter in Dubai, "early" would be around 5:30 p.m. instead of 7 p.m. like it does in the summer.

Meanwhile in Canada, it seems to start getting dark and gloomy as soon as it gets to 3 p.m. after the clocks change in November and it's almost pitch black outside by 4 p.m.

The first time this happened, I got so confused that I had dinner by 6 p.m. and was tucked in bed by 7 p.m. I wasn't tired by a long shot but my body just decided that this was the right course of action considering the darkness outside.

Here I was, having spent so much time, effort and money hunting down the best winter jackets, boots and accessories I could find.

But when winter was actually here, I had absolutely zero desire to get out of the house in the dark even though my watch was telling me that it was just 5 p.m.

I feel like the early sunsets are an even bigger hurdle than the cold when it comes to Canadian winters. Granted, winter is just beginning and I have a few more months to change my mind.

It's still a bit weird to head out of the house when it's dark outside but thankfully I've had loads of advice from people — including getting a SAD lamp, forcing myself to partake in winter activities and making the most of the time when the sun is out!