For me the first three months of the year and the ones I like least. I have to search really hard to find something good about them and something to be grateful for. But I’ve discovered that if I get myself organised and make plans, the winter shortens somehow and I get through it unscathed.
Christmas is over, we’ve survived January. We’ve taken all the unwanted presents back to the shops. We’ve spent more than we should in the sales and so here we are feeling low and listless. We’ve got the February blues.
In the northern hemisphere we are in mid-winter. It’s cold. It’s dark in the mornings and in the evenings. We live lives that see little daylight and probably even less sunlight and because the weather is bad we don’t get the fresh air we should. So what can we do? How can we do to boost our state of mind and get through to spring without going under?
Get out whatever the weather
Take a look out of your window. What’s the weather like today? Have you heard the forecast? As long as you don’t have dangerous conditions – go out!
Go shopping or go for a walk but go with a purpose. Use it as an opportunity to look around you and see all the good and beautiful things that you don’t always notice. Feel glad that you can see what is around you.
Think how different the place where you live looks in winter compared to summer. If you go shopping, look at all the amazing things that are available and be grateful for all the objects we have available to us in the twenty-first century.
Make a date with yourself to go to an art gallery or visit a part of your town that you have never been to. Wander around with your eyes well open and you’ll be amazed at what you will discover. And you won’t just see new things, you’ll discover things about yourself too.
Plan a picnic
Shock! Horror! Is this woman stark-raving mad? A picnic in winter?
Why not? It’s all about the planning that will help to lift you out of the sad days of winter. It’s just too easy to stay in your house, eat comforting food and then feel depressed because you have scoffed too much of the wrong sort of food, got no exercise and didn’t stimulate your mind in any way at all.
So the first thing when organising a picnic is to think where you might go. This could be the local park with all the family or a drive to some romantic beauty spot with your partner. Be creative. Don’t just see it as another chore. Plan what you will wear and what you will put into your picnic basket. You can make lovely hot soups and take them in your thermos flasks and there are all kinds of wonderful finger foods you can make in advance to take with you. Take things that are nourishing and comforting. Get creative and maybe take something that you don’t usually eat.
Use the opportunity to see or do something new or just to have a quiet time to talk. Picnics are great ways to bring families together or to find quiet time to talk with a partner.
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