The most frequently asked question I get around this time of year is if there is a trick to getting through the long winter days. There is no question that, once the holidays are over, and the gray days start to accumulate, it can be hard not to give in to the winter blues. I have grown to appreciate winter, the barren landscape, self-granted permission to watch more TV, and read books under a warm blanket, BUT, that said, if I do not go out of my way to feed my soul and monitor the content I expose myself to, I can slide way down into the all-to-familiar dumps.
So, my dear doom and gloomies, I am sharing my best resources with you in the hopes that one, some, all of them provide a little light for the long winter days.
A winter or two back, a friend turned me on to a book called Wintering: The power of rest and retreat in difficult times by Katherine May. May tells about a year in her family’s life where they experience several unexpected and quite serious situations and, instead of categorizing her experience in some of the more typical ways, she outlines how tough experiences are similar to the seasons, using winter both literally and metaphorically. I just love how May tells all about her own life. You can find the book here.
If you do not follow Nadia Bolz-Weber, you should google her immediately. She is a Lutheran Minister out of Colorado and her posts often reflect what a lot of us think but might not say out loud. She is one of my favorite rebels. She can sometimes be a little bit Jesus-y, but if you read on, you will find WAY more humanity in her message. In her January 1st post, she reminds us that “there is no resolution that, if kept, will make you feel more worthy of love.” She goes on to remind us of the number of ways we can just be much kinder to ourselves and we just do not get enough of that kind of message in our lives.
If you are looking for happiness, there probably isn’t a better source than Gretchen Rubin and the Happiness Podcast. Gretchen co-hosts with her sister Elizabeth Craft and they are quite the duo! They have a unique balance – Gretchen seems to walk a somewhat straight and narrow path, whereas Elizabeth chooses the less direct, perhaps more winding road. Such great chemistry and the podcast is packed with valuable information, guests, life hacks and much more. It’s an easy listen and, let’s face it, it’s hard to listen to a happiness podcast and not get at least a little lift the day. Here is an example of one of the episodes that will give you an idea of the kind of material they provide.
Under the umbrella of saving the best for last, you cannot possibly go wrong listening to Kelsey McKinney and Alex Sojoung-Laughlin who host the podcast Normal Gossip. These two talented millennials take stories that listeners send in, anonymize them and then create a story that will have you riveted to your phone. You can find them here, and I would like to recommend the Grandma’s Friend Dot (5/18/22) as a good overall starting point, but do not miss The Plant episode (7/14/23). It’s my favorite!!
I hope you get to explore some or all of these suggestions and please feel free to share whatever you do to help your soul migrate from winter to spring!