How I Actually Enjoy Winter
(Part 2)
Winter in Eastern Colorado rarely starts until January. After our first snow around the end of October, we're lucky if we have a white Christmas or Thanksgiving. About half of our marginal yearly rainfall comes in the form of snow (give or take - I'm not a meteorologist.) So while most people are ready for 'winter' to be over, I'm happily celebrating its arrival. I don't mind cold, dark days or cutting winds (admittedly because I don't have to go out in them much), but it's so much easier to embrace hibernation season with just an inch or two of white fluff on the ground.
That's the secret to enduring - even enjoying - winter: Accepting that it is time to rest, even in the smallest of ways. The natural world is fast asleep, recovering from the growth and activity and harvest of warmer months. Why should we be the only species that force ourselves to go on hustling and ignore our need to slow down? Our bodies and minds desperately crave unity with the ebb and flow of creation; we're part of it, after all.
In this age, however, it can be a struggle to find practical ways to respond to the cycles of summer and winter, heat and cold - even day and night. I want to share my favorite cozy habits with the hope that you'll find some of them helpful, and I'll preface this by saying that you don't have to use all of them. I am by no means an expert; I've just found what works for me. So keep reading, and maybe you'll find something that works for you!
Clothing
This is an important one, especially if you spend lots of time outside fixing fence, running unheated machinery, etc. It's a given that we should dress for the weather, but why not add a cozy touch to it? Find yourself one or two special pieces that you save for the coldest days. Maybe a sweater you look forward to wearing, or a unique stocking cap that doesn't really go with any of your warmer-weather clothes. If you're craftsy like me, try taking up knitting or crochet and make yourself some plushy wool socks. Or gloves. Or a hat. Trust me, there is nothing that says warm and cozy like knitting needles and some good natural-fiber yarn.
Treat cold weather like a special occasion you get to dress up for. That's my point.
Side Lighting
So apparently there was a big movement a few years ago involving hygge (pronounced hoo-gah) - the Danish word for concepts of harmony and comfort. Since it involves good food, intentional living, and quality time with loved ones, hygge is definitely something I can get behind. And one of the best ways to take your environment from cold and stale to cozy and welcoming? You guessed it - kill the overhead lights and turn on some lamps.
Even if you don't have a lamp for every corner and table, try leaving the lights on in just every second room and let your central space settle into the ambient glow. If you have a smaller light above your oven or sink, use that to light the kitchen. Candles, real or battery-powered (here's my post with a more detailed essay on this, by the way), are peak cozy lighting as long as you're not trying to read or do a precise task (like knitting). Go for the look of pools or islands of light, especially around seating areas. This is particularly important after dark, when bright artificial lights can mess with our circadian rhythm and sleep patterns.
De-Cluttering
Feeling stuck inside a dirty house in bad weather is no fun. While I suggest you wait to deep-clean everything until spring (there's a reason it's called spring cleaning, not whenever cleaning) I am not ashamed to tell you that I'm picking up after myself all the time just to stay sane.
After Christmas, you may find yourself considering a pile of new objects - clothing, cooking utensils, knickknacks, whatever - that don't seem to fit anywhere in your home. This is as good a time as any to look at your shelves or closet and figure out what is most important to keep, what may be wearing out, and what might serve someone else better if given away.
Try going through one room - maybe just your writing space - and taking some extra time to dust things off, streamline what you use the most, and pick things up off the floor. Bag up the trash. Vacuum your rug. If you only do one thing each day, you'll find your space feels so much cleaner - and you'll get less overwhelmed than trying to clean everything in one evening.
Home Cooking
I'll keep my tongue in my cheek for this, because I know not everyone has access to farm-fresh eggs (backyard chickens don't lay in winter anyway) or even a full-sized kitchen. Few people feel they have the time to cook like our ancestors, and it wouldn't be anything fancy if they did.
Ah, but that's the beautiful thing about preparing food for yourself: It doesn't have to look like it does at the restaurant. In fact, all the better if it doesn't. The purpose of food is to nourish and fuel your body. When made in your own kitchen, even if all you did was boil the pasta and warm up some sauce in a pot, you know exactly what's on your plate and how long it's been sitting on the table. Looks good to me!
If cooking sounds even remotely interesting to you, I challenge you to pick a day this week to make one thing from scratch: Scramble your own eggs, butter and toast your own garlic bread, or fry up some fresh bacon instead of getting the precooked crumbles. You don't have to start making everything you eat yourself; my family doesn't. But having a hybrid system is not only healthier, it's also much more cozy and fun. I'd much rather knead some fresh pasta dough (here's the pasta recipe I follow, if you're curious) for chicken soup than bundle up and drive down an icy road into town for a box of spaghetti.
On that note, I think it's time my favorite recipes for warm drinks made their reappearance! I make this hot chocolate so often, it's hard for me to drink it any other way now.
And if you're a chai drinker, here's the recipe I still follow. In fact, I tend to make it in double batches to make sure it lasts all week!
Writing Space
I spend most of my writing time at my desk, but sometimes the day calls for a little more cozy factor. As I type this, the thermometer hangs below 10 degrees fahrenheit and the fence posts are coated in ice crystals. So here in a minute, I'm going to get up and light one of my homemade candles; do a few yoga stretches to boost my circulation; make some more tea or hot chocolate, and perch myself on my bed with an extra blanket between me and the chilly walls. Maybe I'll sit next to the wood-burning stove for a while this afternoon.
Basically anything you find cozy or beneficial to your state of creative flow, do that where you write. Even if you spend most of your day shoveling snow (or you're in a climate that experiences little to no winter) stay intentional about making your writing space somewhere you look forward to coming back to; a place where you can focus, relax, and maybe thaw out your extremities.
Final Thoughts
Seasonal depression is a real thing, y'all. Evidence suggests I may have had my own taste of it this winter. Good news though: It's January, which means whatever weather we get between now and April, there will be more sunlight every day.
The point of hibernation practices is not to add more things to your life; it's about doing less. It's about making time to slow down, recover, and draw inward in small ways. Whatever you choose to do, or not do, approach it with intention. Remember that resting (yes, your body really does need more sleep in winter) and gathering in warm spaces is actually a thing that humans do, the way geese migrate and deer come out at dusk.
If you liked this post, share it with your local writer or meet me down in the comments! I would love to hear your favorite hibernation practices. Stay warm, my friend!
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Love it, such good advice! It really is interesting to consider that we're meant to rest more in this season, how far we've come from that!