Regardless of how one feels about the results of the just-completed election, this can be a very depressing time of year. Sunlight is in short supply. Daytime high temperature readings are sinking fast, and nighttime lows are dropping even more precipitously. Soon there will be snow to shovel, ice to chop and treacherous driving to do. Too many people will leave for work before sunrise and not return home until after well after dark.

Weary loved ones grow short-tempered and/or distant. Formerly lively and energetic people sit inertly in front of video screens for hours on end watching insipid “reality” TV shows while ignoring the actual reality around them. Offspring become more demanding and immature. Bills need paying. Appliances stop functioning without warning. Head colds that last for six weeks before finally being vanquished quickly and unexpectedly return, often with a vengeance. The pervasive suffocating feeling at this time of year makes the possibility of coming back in the next life reincarnated as a large mammal that hibernates undisturbed from late autumn until shortly after Easter Sunday look increasingly attractive.

But fortunately for most Americans, a brief bit of much-appreciated relief arrives each year on the fourth Thursday of the Gregorian calendar’s 11th month. Like an oasis in the heart of the most arid of deserts, Thanksgiving Day provides not only a temporary respite from our grinding, exhausting and sometimes overwhelming routines, but an opportunity to step back and gain some much-needed perspective as well.

Plunging temperatures and limited daylight have been wintertime facts of life since time began, and humans have dealt with them effectively since long before the advent of furnaces, indoor plumbing, or any reliable sources of uninterrupted artificial light.

Viewing snow and ice as hindrances is a relatively recent development. Generations ago, the onset of winter meant engaging nature as an ally. Snow was used to construct snug dwellings inside which humans could stay warm and protected from the elements. Sub-freezing temperatures meant food would keep for longer periods of time. Today, coats, sweatshirts, insulated footwear and other items of winter apparel can be purchased; generations ago those desiring extra layers of warmth had to acquire them by removing the hides of large animals they had dispatched without the benefit of firearms. And it wasn’t all that long ago that there weren’t markets where food could be purchased on demand. Many who moan about Mom’s meatloaf might sing a different tune if they were looking at six months worth of root vegetables, dried fish, and slow-footed squirrel for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner.

As anyone who’s lived below the Mason-Dixon Line can attest, there are plenty of reasons to appreciate lengthy periods of sub-Arctic temperatures. Consistently pleasant summers that are relatively free of humidity and completely devoid of fire ants, winged cockroaches, poisonous snakes and similar scourges are handsome compensation for having to endure a few months of bundling up.

Those dissatisfied with their current working conditions should think twice before complaining out loud. Plenty of currently underemployed or unemployed people would happily deal with lengthy commutes, long hours, unappealing working conditions, and slave-driving bosses just to earn a regular paycheck. Spending one-third of a calendar year slogging back and forth to a dead-end job isn’t appealing, but it’s infinitely more attractive than enduring those same dark, cold four months unsure of when one will next find steady employment, a semi-permanent place to live, and/or his or her next meal.

Those who feel their lives are cursed by demanding, disrespectful young people should consider this: They’re kids. Youthful individuals who occasionally act overly churlish, disagreeable, selfish, entitled, or infantile more often than not do so because they’re children! With patience, time, patience, effective role modeling, patience, teamwork, patience, a smattering of good luck and patience, this too shall pass. If those of us who enjoyed adolescence well into our 30s can emerge unscathed and become reasonably productive members of society, there’s every reason to believe our offspring can eventually do the same.

Those involved in marriages or similar monogamous unions that aren’t working as smoothly as they once did can use the coming winter to redouble their determination to restore the spark to their relationship. No coupling is perfect, but those involved in a committed domestic alliance with a healthy spouse/partner should celebrate and build on their shared passions and values. The alternative of ineffective or nonexistent communication and fixating on festering differences both real and imagined, is unpleasant and ultimately counterproductive for all.

There’s never a bad time to count one’s blessings. Norman Vincent Peale (“Change your thoughts and you change your world”) and Dale Carnegie (“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing”) may be dead and gone, but fortunately their ideas and attitudes live on. What is there to celebrate this Thanksgiving? Everything!

— Andy Young, who works in York County and lives in Cumberland County, has much to be thankful for, starting with the fact that he and his family won’t be traveling anywhere this Thursday; his siblings, cousins and their families are driving to Maine this year.