Slow Living in Winter - Part 2
How to Romanticise Winter
In our first post in this series we looked at how to have a slower December. In this post we are going to look at how to have a slow winter, and specifically how to make Winter really special - how to romanticise it.
A lot of people dislike Winter. It’s cold, dark and bare. It’s easy to end up getting Seasonal Affective Disorder or even depression. And many people see it as a time to endure rather than enjoy.
I used to feel this way too but since I’ve been trying to live more seasonally, I now look forward to Winter as much as any other season. So let’s look at some ways that we can make Winter special…
Home
Winter is a time for being at home, for enjoying cosiness, warmth, and being indoors. Cosy season doesn’t end in December - we can carry this throughout January and February too.
In a previous blog post I mentioned the Danish concept of Hygge, which means something like cosiness and togetherness. It is the way Danes get through winter so well and the rest of us can learn a lot from the concept. Please go back and have a look at that one for a more detailed look at Hygge. But for now let’s explore some ways we can implement Hygge in our homes in winter.
The first thing to do is set the ambience. This involves three key areas - lighting, music, and scent.
Turn off those overhead lights and go for cosier lighting options instead - lamps, fairy lights, and especially candles. Try to make sure the bulbs are warm ones.
Calm relaxing cosy music is next - instrumental piano or jazz music is great, so are Christmas songs or songs with a winter theme.
Third, get some scented candles, incense, or oil diffusers. A great combination of essential oils to put in your diffuser is pine (or any wood), cinnamon, cloves, and orange. Together they really make a lovely scent.
Once you’ve got the ambience right, it’s time to think about decoration. For thousands of years, humanity has decorated during the winter season with greenery. Not only does it symbolise life in a time when there is little life outside, but it just brings some colour into the home. So keep your Christmas tree and decorations up throughout the winter and find other ways to bring nature into your home. Consider some house plants too.
Decoration can also extend to other aspects of our home. We want to make it cosy and inviting so things like lots of pillows, blankets, throws, and the like on chairs, sofa’s, and beds are a great way to make it feel cosy. We will probably end up spending more time in bed in winter so it’s a good idea to make it as cosy as possible.
Another possibility is some kind of fire. If you are lucky enough to have a fireplace or log burner, turn it on, but if not, you can create some of the ambience using lots of LED or normal candles or an electric fire. or even use a youtube video of a fireplace on your TV.
And of course there is cosy clothing - whether indoors or out, putting on cosy clothing can make winter feel lovely - maybe some cosy socks, slippers and a dressing gown when you are at home. And scarf, gloves, hat and warm jumper or coat when outdoors.
Food
Romanticising Winter when it comes to food means really embracing seasonal eating and nourishing our bodies well.
What is in season where you are during Winter? For many of us it’s root veggies, potatoes and leafy greens. It’s the perfect time to make warming soups, casseroles and the like. Focus on hot meals as much as possible.
Winter is also a time when we need to be boosting our immune system with lots of vitamin C - a perfect time to have some oranges or even make orange marmelade. And unless you live in a place with good sunshine levels in Winter, you should be taking a Vitamin D supplement too.
It’s also a time for enjoying some luxuries too. There is the feasting of Christmas food, but there are also other things you can do during winter, especially when Christmas is over such as finding a new hot chocolate recipe or trying lots of new teas or coffee’s.
Finally, don’t forget our friends outdoors - there is not much around for nature right now so putting out food for the birds etc is always important in Winter.
Activities
Winter is a time for resting, slowing down and going within. You may not want to be doing lots of activities and that is fine, although it is important to get outside too.
You may want to make a bucketlist of winter activities to give you a bit of hope on dark days but don’t go too overboard - make it something that’s easy to manage and put in lots of rest time too.
Some examples of Winter Activities you could consider are:
Ice Skating
Stargazing
Making a Snowman
Make a craft like a wreath or yule log
Bake some treats
Visit Christmas Markets, Santa or walk around the neighbourhood to see the Christmas Lights.
Create a reading list of books to read - perhaps with a winter theme
Go to bed earlier and read
Do some yoga or meditation
Have a warm bath
In January/February - look out for early bulbs flowering like Snowdrops and Crocuses
Have a Home Spa day or do a hot stone massage.
Watch TV series or films, especially winter or Christmas-themed ones.
Go for a winter hike to see what’s going on in nature right now, or a walk to look for animal tracks.
If you have kids - doing an Antarctica themed day - learn about it, make ice cream, make an igloo with blankets e.t.c.
Watch the solstice sunrise
There are many possibilities but the key is not to overwhelm yourself. Just pick a few that really stand out to you for each month.
Celebrate
Winter has been a traditional time to celebrate for humanity for thousands of years. The hard work of the year is done, most people are gathered back in their homes, it’s the perfect time. Plus we all need a bit of cheer at this time of year. Part of that Danish idea of Hygge is togetherness - and so celebrating with others can add something special to winter.
There are many possibilities for dates you could celebrate (but again don’t overwhelm yourself) depending on your community and beliefs. From the Winter Solstice to Christmas, Hannakuh to New Year, Imbolc/ Candlemas to Lunar/Chinese New Year.
Maybe try to celebrate something you haven’t done before and see how you find it. Or try creating some new traditions to add into a current celebration. What might be nice is to have perhaps one celebration each month so you always have something to look forward to and to brighten up the period.
Rest and Reflect
Whether you celebrate or don’t, do activities or don’t, the most important thing about Winter is to enjoy the fact that Nature is teaching you to slow down, to pause, to rest. Especially after Christmas, it really is a time to reduce the busyness as much as possible and enjoy doing very little.
The nights are longer - so there’s a good excuse to sleep longer.
The Winter Solstice is the time when the sun pauses - why not also adopt that day as one to pause in all the chaos leading up to Christmas and spend some time resting.
In years gone by, I have spent a lot of the time in the week after Christmas reflecting and reviewing the previous year while planning the next year. It took up a lot of time and I ended up going back to work in January without feeling like I’d had a proper rest at all. But I’m learning to do things differently - I am going to use that time for a proper pause and rest, and then really start planning in January. It might even be a great day to do a retreat somewhere for a few days.
Winter is a time to focus inward. It is important to take time to reflect and a great habit to adopt is a new journaling practice. You might think of some things naturally in the Christmas period but real reflection and planning for the year ahead takes time and is probably best done in January, when hopefully you are in a more restful state.
When it does come time to reflect in January, think about lessons you learned last year, memories you made, how your habits and routines worked or didn’t work. Ask yourself questions like - what made me most happy last year and what can I do to increase happiness next year? And what didn’t go so well or what do I need to spend less time on/ do less of next year?
I have talked before about not bothering to set New Year’s Resolutions on January 1st - I think it is a silly idea and I can’t understand why someone came up with it in the first place. Usually, we set them out of guilt at eating too much after Christmas. Then we go against Nature’s lead and try to go out running when it’s the coldest, wettest, darkest time of the year. It’s pretty insane when you think about it. So why not wait until spring, the true “starting point” of things. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to eat healthy in January and February, but when it comes to big plans and resolutions - follow Nature’s lead.
Conclusion
So these are 5 ways to romanticise winter and make it a time to look forward to - make your home welcoming and cosy, eat warm, nourishing, seasonal foods, come up with a list of some winter activities to do to make the most of the season, have some celebrations, and most importantly - enjoy slowing down and resting for a period.