Beating the winter blues: an experience

I loooooove to moan about winter! Who’s with me?

I don’t love the whole warm jumper / in front of the fire / crisp blue morning thing.

That’s fine, right? Some like winter, some don’t, some don’t care, all good.

But, let’s be honest here. Disliking at least a quarter of the year - and therefore my life - is ridiculous.

So this year, I’m getting on board with the winter fans… or at least trying to see it from their point of view.

It’s February, which means we’re about halfway through winter, here’s what I’ve learned so far. And look - this stuff might be obvious, but if you’re anything like me, it’s good to have a reminder.

1. You need a reason to go outside

It’s all too easy to look out the window and thing ‘nope’. Freezing temperatures, grey skies - not a recipe for outdoor enthusiasm.

I’m training for a half marathon and also have a family dog, so going outside for a good stint of time is a requirement of both. And, for the most part, it’s usually not as bad as it looks (but crucially, see point #2).

Sometimes, it’s actually quite nice - mainly when the sun is shining and it isn’t windy. It’s no summer, but it will do while summer isn’t around.

2. Dress appropriately

This one’s on me. Having well-fitted, warm and comfortable clothes to wear is an obvious and very straightforward strategy to not hate being out in the cold. As of yet, I haven’t mastered it 😤.

3. Get up at the same time, all the time

I’m terrible at this, but getting up at the same time everyday is crucial to keeping your circadian clock regulated. In normalspeak that just means get up at the same time and your body won’t be confused, so you’ll sleep better and have more energy throughout the day.

Also, you get to watch as it starts to get lighter and lighter during Feb/March

4. Rainy days usually mean a great sunset

There’s an obvious metaphor here but I do actually mean this in the literal sense. If a storm breaks towards the end of the day and you’re left with a patchy sky, prepare for a great sunset, because the pinky red setting sun has plenty to shine onto as it says ciao for now.

5. Do the stuff you won’t want to do as much of in the summer

Sitting inside pubs, going to museums, gym classes instead of running, eating a lot

6. At least try to see the good side of winter

It’s not going anywhere (citation needed). Might as well enjoy it

7. Eat seasonally

Did you know oranges and clementines are in season over Christmas? What! But here are some of the other great things in season (there’ll be loads more):

December: Sprouts, leeks, Turkey, Apples, various root veg

Jan: See above, as well as carrots, cauliflower. Snowdrops and winter jasmine start to bloom

Feb: See above, plus purple broccoli! And daffodils and chamelia start to bloom, as well as trees. A Canadian person I used to chat to on dog walks once said ‘daff season’ which I quite like.

8. Read more books and watch more shows

Chances are you’ll be inside more during winter evenings. It’s a great time to keep up with reading and the latest and greatest on TV or at the cinema. Get ahead! Go crazy! Watch live TV!?

9. Chase the weather

Make hay while the sun shines. If it’s a nice day, make the most of it. Refer to points 1, 2, 5! We just had a 16C day in Feb and it was wonderful.

10. Look out for early flowering

Around mid Feb you’ll have seen daffodils and trees start to bloom - we aren’t out of the woods yet but it’s something to look forward to.

11. Plan the best spring/summer of your life

Simple, right?

Bonus: Just get up later

Dark mornings are never easy. If you can, just get up a bit later from time to time. It’s not going to kill anyone. I think.

This week I'm: ⬇️

Some interesting stuff worth sharing.

📖 Reading Notes From a Big Country by Bill Bryson, hilarious as per usual. If you’ve read my email several times before and you still haven’t tried a Bill Bryson book, now’s the time! My advice would be to start with Notes from a Small Island. Perfect book.

🎧 Listening to the Deathly Hallows - it turns out I’ve only read this once, and I’ve forgotten most of it. Great! Stephen Fry excellent as per.

🎞 Watching old Vsauce videos like this one - What Will We Miss? If you don’t know, Vsauce is an amazing channel by Michael Stevens that talks about the blurred lines between metaphysics, philosophy, and culture. Most of the music used in the videos is by a guy called Jake Chudnow, also amazing - check out Flan

📱 Reading what is a bit of a crap piece in the Guardian about going to bed earlier. The simple truth is that you can neither change a habit in a week, or feel any major benefits that soon (otherwise we’d all stick to habits). But, it’s an interesting piece because I think it’s the first time I’ve seen Why We Sleep (Matthew Walker’s 2017 sleep book) called out for being incredibly anxiety-inducing. It’s a great book and I found it fascinating, but my god did it stress me out when I was going to bed. But worse is sleep trackers, also mentioned, which I gave up on because I let the data tell me how I felt. If it told me I hadn’t slept much, despite feeling fine, I’d suddenly feel terrible

🤔 Considering buying a weekend subscription to a weekend magazine like the Guardian Weekly or FT Weekend. I really like the idea of reading something that has been curated by people, rather than one social media algorithm

🌼 Buying daffodils for the flat - you can get a massive bunch at the moment for £3 from Sainsbury’s, or probably from wherever else. Cheap and cheerful

⛷ Keeping an eye out for the weather forceast in the Alps next week….

🏃🏻 Halfway through my half marathon training. It’s a cliche to say that running changes your life but it really does. Most people start and we’re terrible, and before you know it, we’re running 20km+ and enjoying it. Almost as if it’s something we’re meant to be doing.

📱 Recommending Ten Things by Luke Leighfield - I read a fair number of email newsletters about a wide of things, so if you like this one, chances are you’ll like the ones I read too. Luke’s is a ridiculously aesthetic and well thought list of - you guessed it - ten interesting things to take a look at. It’s semi-regular, so doesn’t clog up your inbox either.

💬 And finally, a quote

Something interesting I’ve highlighted recently.

Ultra Processed People - Chris van Tulleken

Thanks!

If you found this interesting and useful, please subscribe. I send emails like this every few weeks.

And as always, feel free to reply to these email if you found this useful!

In the meantime, you can find me on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, and have a look at what I’m reading on Goodreads.

📸 BONUS: Photo of the Week

Usually a sunset, my dog, or both.