
Often I don’t realize that my hands are hanging down and my knees are feeble until the slump has gotten hold of me (about the 75th cloudy day in January). I’m sure you have your own coping skills. Not everybody is blessed by quilts and bright yellow teapots. That list is what rises to the top when I think about leaning into wintertime.
Accept: this is a season and it will pass. Bring home some tulips from the grocery store. Take supplements for the vitamins and minerals you lack. Make things with beautiful yarn or paints. Feed the birds, learn to identify them, keep lists. Collect houseplants for your windowsills. Go skating or sledding or just walking in the fresh air. Have spots of color around your house: quilts, throw pillows, pretty dishes. Buy fresh herbs, vegetables, and fruits. Eat sensibly embrace comfort foods and bright flavors. Put lights everywhere, twinklies, candles, full-spectrum bulbs. Plan fun things like tea parties and game nights.
I have tried to condense it so I don’t fatigue you with my lofty thoughts. My list for coping skills is long and detailed, because I have given it much thought over the years, and probably written about it before.
Grandma lived in Wisconsin and every year she faced this battle. When my mom gave me a stack of notepads from my Grandma’s stash, I found one with this poem on the back:
Facing the challenge and admitting it is not a sin, however.
At the end of the day, the weariness of winter is a thing, the brain fog is a thing, and the temptation to sin with my attitudes is a thing. PollyAnna chirping, “I’m so glad I’m not being exposed to harmful UV rays”. Navel-gazing about all the things that are wrong in my life. I have a short list of things that do NOT help, and the top of the list is I’ve been thinking a lot about surviving during the long, dark days of winter, even thriving.