As fall approaches you might find yourself feeling hopeful for the festivities fall & winter can bring, but struggle to embrace joy as you remember how dark, cold, and dull the colder months can be.
For my fellow summer lovers who notice their mood shift as the seasons do, here are some ways you can transition from the warmer months and embrace the colder ones
Although this time can bring up those winter blues, we don’t have to let that put a stop to our fun. Here are 10 things you can do to find joy in these colder months:
Add more warmth to your diet
When it’s cold outside you crave warmth, the kinda warmth you can feel to the bone. Warm up with more hot beverages like teas, hot cider, or cocoa. Also adding more soups during this time is a great way to help you feel more hearty warmth, eat more vegetables and gain more nourishment.
Embrace the change of season and get cozy
With the change in season, will come a change in aesthetics and ambiance. Embrace the fall and winter vibes and get cozy! lighting candles and hanging fairy lights can add a much-needed warmth to your space. If you have a fireplace, now would be a great time to make use of it.
Don’t forget to break out those cozy blankets and throws!
Make a simmer pot, use a diffuser, or light some incense to fill your space with relaxing aromas that inspire a cozy vibe. Scents like citrus, vanilla, cinnamon, ylang-ylang, and myrrh inspire relaxation and warmth. you want to choose scents that soothe you and create a sense of zen or even a nostalgic scent that brings you joy.
In the midst of ambient additions, adding an intentional soundscape that envelopes the space in relaxing, warm, and calming energy can help turn your home into your sanctuary.
Sound also helps to guide the mood and can set the tone of your environment. Filling your space with music that inspires a relaxed and cozy vibe can really affect your sense of peace. Here’s one from my personal collection:
Honor your sleep cycle
With the hustle and bustle of your day-to-day life, it can be so easy to compromise on important needs like sleep. After neglecting our sleep cycles all year, I find autumn and winter the perfect time to honor our sleep cycles and get some much-needed rest. with longer days, it should be a little easier to get more of it too. Being well rested not only gives you energy to do the things you love, but it also boosts your mood.
Brighten up your home
Although the sun will be hiding in the clouds most days, you’ll still find that opening up the curtains/ blinds will still give you some natural light. Getting natural light is important for regulating sleep and mood, for days you don’t feel like venturing outside it will help your
home not become a dark, gloomy cave. Adding some fairy lights would be a nice way to brighten and perk up your space.
Get outside as much as you can
Going outside will give you more chances to connect with nature. Connecting to nature can promote a sense of well-being and happiness –– so find more reasons to get outside today. A nice stroll through a nearby park, a bonfire with friends or just taking a moment to marvel at the stars at night before bed. It all counts, and it’s all beneficial to your wellness.
Even if it’s just for five minutes, get outside if you can.
Yes, it’s cold, But these few minutes outside will also help you get more exposure to sunlight which is vital to creating vitamin D within the body.
Vitamin D is a very important piece to maintaining a positive mood since vitamin D is key to maintaining higher levels of serotonin during the winter.
Get Moving
Don’t let the weather keep you from staying active this season! Movement is so important to your wellness, and you don’t need a gym to do it either.
Get familiar with how you like to move your body and work out, and then incorporate those activities and practices into your fitness. When you exercise it releases endorphins, which does wonders for your mood. Physical exercise can also improve your sleep and confidence in your abilities.
Gather with loved ones
This season is a great time to make exciting plans and gather with your friends and loved ones. Don’t let the weather and dark skies turn you into a shut-in.
Opening up to other people also helps relieve stress and helps connect you to others. I’m sure I don’t have to remind you how great it is to connect and laugh with your friends. Let fall and winter be the perfect excuse to get the gang back together again!
Embrace your stillness
As we transition from the fast-paced summer, you’ll find the world around coming into more stillness. Embrace the slower-paced living and take more time for yourself, take your time in your routine and listen to the rhythms of your body as it asks for more movement, more excitement, or more rest and stillness. Take the time to embrace moments of solitude, but remember your solitude isn’t meant to feel lonely.
Create an Autumn/Winter bucket list
Making a list of things you want to do this season is a great way to look at what you really want and will motivate you to accomplish your goals. Choose activities that give you a sense of pleasure, nostalgia, fun, and achievement. This is also great for behavioral activation which supports a better mood by deliberately practicing certain behaviors to activate a positive emotional state, this is known as behavioral activation. Fall and Winter are full of fun seasonal festivities to do with your friends like ice skating, visiting a pumpkin patch, picking apples, and tasting hot cider after, or even just a haunted-house-themed escape room. I suggest making a separate bucket list for each season. Here’s a peek at my fall bucket list and some ideas for yours!
Read a book or Join a book club
Winter is the perfect time to snuggle up with a good book and hot cocoa and get cozy.
During these colder months, you may find yourself inside more often looking for something to do in your boredom. Reading is a great way to expand your mind and destress. Studies have found that reading as little as just 6 minutes per day can not only improve your quality of sleep but also sharpen mental acuity and reduce stress. Reading strengthens the neural circuits and pathways of our brain while lowering your heart rate and blood pressure.
Researcher and cognitive neuropsychologist Dr. David Lewis pointed out that, “Losing yourself in a book is the ultimate relaxation. It really doesn’t matter what book you read, by losing yourself in a thoroughly engrossing book you can escape from the worries and stresses of the everyday world and spend a while exploring the domain of the author’s imagination.”
He went on to say that reading is much more than a distraction with, “active engaging of the imagination as the words on the printed page stimulate your creativity and cause you to enter what is essentially an altered state of consciousness.”
Joining a book club ( or even creating one) is a great way to share and enjoy books and stories with like-minded individuals, further fueling your desire for curiosity and connection.
Plan a little getaway
Even if it’s just for a weekend, planning a small trip this season can do wonders for your mental health. Take a break from your usual routine and scenery and take the weekend off.
Research shows that just by planning a trip alone, people can experience more happiness. Don’t just take my word for it, try it for yourself this holiday season. Let it be the perfect excuse to get away and indulge in something you love, with someone you love.
But baby, it’s cold outside
Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean curling up by the fire inside has to be so bad. After a hot and exciting summer, these colder months can seem less and less like something you look forward to. From long bright days to short dark cold ones it can be hard to find joy in these colder months.
Autumn and winter are times to ground, rest, renew and restore, but they don’t have to be dark and gloomy times of isolation.
Allow autumn and winter to serve as a time to recoup from the hustle and bustle of summer and reflect on how you would like to move forward.
Let’s shake off those winter blues!
This post was happily inspired by @jodie.melissa on Tiktok
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