How to Winter, by Kari Leibowitz

“Winter doesn’t have to just happen to us: we can shape how we experience the season.”

I've always found winter difficult, and have been diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder. But Kari Leibowitz's book, How to Winter, has helped me to approach the season in a different way this year, with more acceptance and hope. For example, I've accepted that I need more rest and sleep in the winter and embraced indoor cosy hobbies.

Kari Leibowitz describes how our mindsets impact our experience of winter, and also links this to approaching other difficult times in our lives.

“How we approach winter is a pretty good proxy for how we approach other dark, difficult seasons in our lives.”

She includes examples of psychological biases that can affect our view of winter, such as confirmation bias, where we seek evidence that confirms what we already believe, and affective forecasting, where we (often poorly) predict how we are going to feel.

The book draws on her experience and research of how those living farther north, in areas such as Troms?, in Norway (the northernmost city in the world) tend to experience winter more positively and enjoy it more, despite the extremes of cold and lack of daylight.

“Every day, we have the chance to embrace the world in front of us. We can celebrate what’s there; find the delights; seize any chance for joy, big or small.”

The book is structured in three sections: Appreciate Winter, Make It Special and Get Outside.

Appreciate Winter

Kari Leibowitz advises looking at winter for what it is, rather than focusing on what it isn't. She describes how to prepare for and adapt to the season and how to use our words and language to lift up winter’s pleasures.

Practical suggestions in this section include:

• Notice nature and how it makes you feel.
• Observe the weather and how it changes.
• Pay attention to the sights, smells and sounds of winter.
• Take an Awe Walk to engage with a sense of wonder.
• Set positive winter expectations by listing things you are looking forward to about winter.
• Use the end of Daylight Saving Time as a winter adaptation week.
• Embrace slowness and restoration. Lean into rest. Enjoy slow hobbies and small comforts.
• Question and restructure automatic negative thoughts.
• Break winter into 3 or more micro-seasons.
• How would you help a friend to cultivate a more positive wintertime mindset?
• Be a Wintertime Mindset Ambassador.

I highly recommend the As the Season Turns podcast with Ffern and Lia Leendertz as seasonal inspiration and a guide to what to look out for in the month ahead.

Make It Special

In this section, she advises that we lean into the activities and feelings that are unique to this time of year. She advocates revelling in cosiness, and enjoying delights made possible by winter’s darkness. She describes how to create and savour rituals that imbue the season with meaning.

Practical suggestions in this section include:

• Engage in low-arousal positive activities.
• Use warm lighting and turn off the overhead light in the evening.
• Light a fire or some candles.
• Draw on traditions from your own culture or others to create cosiness. Embrace hygge and koselig.
• Create daily, weekly/monthly and yearly rituals to connect with yourself, others, nature and the transcendent.
• Use what you enjoy about the holiday season to identify strategies that you can use later in the winter.

Get Outside

The final suggestion encourages use to layer up and enjoy the outdoors in all weather. She describes the Norwegian principle of fruilufstliv (open-air life). She suggests ways to experiment with winter bathing and to take advantage of the ways your town or city celebrates the season.

Practical suggestions in this section include:

• Challenge limiting beliefs about being outside in winter.
• Wear the right clothes to winter-proof yourself.
• Focus on short-term rewards and make the activity more enjoyable.
• Practice wise, or fierce, self-compassion to recognise when going outside will bolster your wellbeing.
• Leverage social support. Invite a friend for an outdoor activity.
• Have a hot bath, shower or footbath before bed.
• Go to a local sauna.
• Try cold-water immersion or swimming.
• Do what feels good.
• Look out for winter festivals in January and February.

Summary

Below is my decorated summary of the book:

What helps you to embrace and enjoy winter?