When warm temperatures are missing from my day-to-day, I tend to go a little bonkers. Freezing cold and snowy roads are not my cup of tea. But at the same time, I know winter is good for me. It helps me learn about myself when conditions aren’t ideal. And I usually start feeling guilty for wishing the winter days away because they are days that I am SO lucky to be living. So this winter, I decided to prepare. Prepare for the yuck in my heart before it got there so I would have some ideas on how to handle it when it arrived. Anxiety and worry run wild, tend to get me down, and while I probably won’t be able to avoid it completely, here’s what I am doing or have done to keep my head up and spirits high.
1. Sleep more
Funny, right? But the days get shorter and darker and sometimes all I want to do is get in bed at 8. Some weeks, I probably do that too often. But I think the winter season is intentionally built to help our minds and bodies rest. And that means, when its 5pm and dark outside and you feel like going to bed as soon as you can, I think you should do it. In my eyes, warm weather days are the days I don’t mind being tired. The sunlight keeps me moving and grooving. In the winter, I just crave sleep (and yes, laziness) and I think you should capitalize on it and not feel ashamed to do so. It can help with getting up early, too and just having more energy overall during the day. If you have trouble sleeping or getting to bed early, try do it just one or two times a week. Sleep masks, white noise machines, lavender oil, and putting my phone down early have really helped me.
2. Go to the doctors when I don’t feel good.
I swear I wake up so many days in the wintertime not feeling well. Sore throat, headache, the whole shabang. I’m lucky enough to be able to go to the doctor when I am sick, and I do not take that for granted. So I decided that instead of not feeling good for a week and letting my worry get out of control, that I am going to schedule and go to a doctor’s appointment to ensure myself that I am okay or that I need to do something to get better. It might seem silly and obvious, but it’s something that I don’t do enough.
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3. Vitamin D
Let’s make it clear that I am no doctor. I don’t know anything about your health but I can tell you that there is a clear connection between how I feel during the blistering cold days of winter and after a day in the sun. So knowing that most of my upcoming days are going to be spent inside, I am stocking up and getting into the habit of taking a vitamin D supplement daily. It makes me feel better, is good for my body, and helps my skin. There is a solid chance that it’s more of a placebo effect than anything and I am A-OK with that. Tricking my body into feeling better is a score.
ps: that really comfy sweatshirt looking thing is from everlane
4. Read more
We are all pretty much obsessed with books and you probably hear all the time how you should read more. Or you’re constantly telling yourself to and you just haven’t yet. If it were easy, you would be doing it and we know that. I think it’s near impossible to make reading a priority with the crazy of life but I am getting better at it. For me, reading is something I associate with vacation, warm weather, and free time. It’s hard for me to read without feeling like there is something more important I could be doing. But, so far I have been making progress. For 10 minutes, for 20 minutes, or for three and half hours, reading is my escape to warm weather. Whether it’s everyday or once a week and you pick up the paper, your COM101 book, your parenting book, or that silly romance novel, you’ll feel more in tuned with your brain (hopefully!) after doing it. Here’s some suggestions:
5. Low maintenance
Everyone does this one different. When I’m shivering my way to my car or back into the house, I feel like blah. I want to eat something and get my sweatpants on and by eat something I mean I want to eat what is pretty much always is a warm chocolate chip cookie. Ah, if only. As a generalization, warm food is typically less healthy than cold food. I’m thinking raw fruits and veggies. Those don’t typically sound appetizing to me in the winter. So I’ve tried ways to make healthy food warm. Like did you know you could cook raw veggies in a pan on the stove with a little oil and they quickly become warm??? (insert cry/laugh face emoji) But it’s the little things like that are actually weirdly easy but somehow I still end up eating frozen pizza. The Crockpot is really a holy grail, too. My all-time favorite meal that ends up giving me tons of leftovers is a go-to.
Obviously, it is hard to do any exercise ever. In the winter, it’s usually even harder. That is no secret, people. So I have been doing yoga in my kitchen. We’ll need another laugh/cry emoji for that. It’s my new favorite app. Sometimes I lay out my yoga mat on the kitchen floor and just lay on my back and stretch my body in different ways for 20 minutes. It is a game changer. Things like just simply putting lotion on my body more often after I shower makes me feel better. Planning my outfits so that I have all my comfy clothes available for the upcoming week is another easy thing I do to make cold mornings a little more bearable.
6. Seriously, throw kindness around like confetti.
Macklemore gets it right in his Growing Up Song when he says,
“The easiest way to happiness, learning to be selfless.”
So that little line in that song is my motivation for this one. Being overly generous, doing a quick favor, or going the extra mile for someone else will make you happy. I’m not saying that you should say yes to everything because you are crazy busy and you probably need to start saying no more. Maybe you should text that neighbor to see if she wants you to watch her kids for a date night. She’ll probably LOVE it and then do the same for you. Buying something online that you think someone else will love, too? Instead of sending them the link to let them see how cute it is, buy them one too! Tailor this one to YOU and what you can do to make someone else’s day.
Jump starting my engine during January, February, March months is tough. But I am learning, forever learning, that I don’t usually regret searching and attempting new ways to help myself. Beating the winter blues is just one way I’m trying to adjust. Let’s try and realize that the process of trial and error is a good one. Need another idea on how to gameplan a terrible winter day when you have or are watching some kiddos? Check this out. It’s almost foolproof. Or if you have tried and true ways of attacking the winter, tell me tell me but I am alllllllll ears.