How do you get through the winter?
How do you get through the winter?
Obviously for Northern Hemisphere folks here. Where I am, it has been mostly below freezing, a little snow but not enough to pe pretty or good to play in. It's mostly indoor activities. I work out at the gym, play board games, have random get togethers with friends. What do you do?
Get through? Winter is something I look forward to. Snuggling under a warm blanket with a pet or loved one. Hearty soups for every meal. Days are shorter and life slows down.
Summer sucks. Winter is where it's at.
I tend to use the traditional British methods of sighing, whingeing and moaning.
Moaning about the weather can be done communally at bus stops, to increase comradeship.
We don't have bus stops here so people do a lot of communal moaning in shops and markets.
Read, play video games, watch movies and anime. Oh, and post on forums.
Actually, thinking about it, there's one thing that's sort of the backgound to all of those things, and could be said to actually be my main activity in the winter, and that's providing a lap for my cat. The rest of those are things that I also do.
I'm an avid indoorsman. One of my best friends is too, fortunately. I almost never get cabin fever (though it does happen).
Winters for me feels like home turf. My favorite activity is tabletop gaming with friends. When I can't do that, I love reading books and watching videos. Occasionally I'll play Steam games, but I spent enough of my youth on that, so it's way down the list of choices.
I also like to try out new recipes. I'm a better cook than baker, but I do some of both. And I really enjoy playing with our two dogs. They teach the stupid human how to be in the moment.
I'm a boring but happy guy when left in peace.
I go outside. Learning to dress warmly is a skill. Makes me feel less stuck.
Lamps and light everywhere. A stupid amount of light. More than you are thinking.
D vitamins and gaming. Having a kid helps get you up in the morning
For the most part I keep doing the same things while enjoying it less. Obviously I go outside less but I still do. I gear up, hop onto my bike and ride into the pitch black forrest only to realise this kind of sucks and then I just do a short trip and come back home. Then I forget that it wasn't that fun and do the same thing again tomorrow.
Ski pretty much every weekend, vibe, chill.
That was my plan, been slacking though. Haven't been up in a month
Do you live near a skiable hill? That sounds great. Been skiing two times this year alread. It realy is thebest way of spending the winter.
I live in Denver. So...kinda. Just gotta wake up early and drive an hour and a half.
As an Australian living in Canada I find winters difficult after a few weeks. So I usually plan a trip south in February. I’m trying to get better about winter sports like cross country skiing. I have a 3yo now which helps, I can learn about winter fun and games through her
Hibernate.
Drink 😁
Visit a garden centre that has a greenhouse. I picked up a little cactus!
Whiskey + black metal
Live close enough to a ski resort to ride my snowboard. Or kayak if the local creek is up. Maybe mountain bike as a last resort. Work on the camper van.
I just dress warmly, often even when inside. It's the biggest factor in weathering out the Winter, you just have to know how to do it. Currently laying in bed in an opened green hoodie over a pink plaid shirt and jeans and a warm temple garment bra/panties. It's normal around here to just accept having on three layers.
I look forward to winter and I've joked that if I were a Pokemon, me being an ice type would be fitting. If it's especially cold I'll just wear thicker winterwear than usual or stay indoors. If I still feel cold, then it's a great excuse to cook up some hot soups and make some hot chocolate!
Also: Light therapy thing. Relatively cheap and easy, helps a lot with the moodiness of winter.
I moved to Florida. It’s usually warm and sunny.
Down side: I live in Florida.
Winter? I don't think we get that anymore. We haven't even had snow this season yet.
We live in very different places apparently lol
Probably. Last year we had a few good dumps of snow through December and January, this year just rain and a few cold days
Come to NW Florida! The last bits of Tuesday's snowstorm are melting today.
I’m thankful there are a lot of community events in the smallish towns in my area that help stave off the winter stir craziness. I think I’ve only seen the sun 4 times in the last 3 months but those few days were glorious. I can still get some hiking done on days where it’s not miserably windy. The thing that kills me the most are how short the days are.
I miss the snow this year, it brightens up the outside world substantially.
I do gaming, cleaning, planning, and sometimes head out and take cool photos:
https://pxlmo.com/p/stoy/787786012092436062
Yesterday was spend with my dad helping me troubleshoot a nixie clock I built as a kit back in 2011, it worked fine until I touched the power rails to the tubes, 180V DC will make you loose control of your arm and just throw whatever you are holding, including a nixie clock.
After getting a new power supply, power cable and fuse and cleaning up my old crappy solder joints it is once again working for the first time since 2011, there is some kind of short that we ar having a hard time figuring out, but for the most part it is working...
I might just get a new clock from a shop in Ukarine (nixieshop.com)
Other than that, today I need to do some cleaning, and I might get my car and do a decent clean of that as well.
Get a sun lamp, mine helped me immensely! I sit in front of it every morning as I’m getting ready (before the sun is up) and it wakes me up and improves my mood.
Pick up a winter hobby. I look forward to winter now that I started steelhead fishing (it's a cold weather thing). Buy cross country skis or snowshoes and it'll never snow enough.
It doesn't snow enough. I own snowshoes. I also like to winter camp. I just got back from some time on the shore of lake Erie. I'd love to do winter mountaineering but I don't live near mountains and haven't been able to take time off of work for travel.
I live in Cleveland and began backpacking in Pennsylvania thirty years ago during the coldest, snowiest winter since the 70's. My buddy and I rented cheap snowshoes that were awful, that summer i mail ordered a pair of Atlas snowshoes when they first became available. I think I've used them twice since. That's why every time I hear someone griping about the winter, my suggestion is to buy skis or snowshoes because it'll never snow enough. Or to put it another way; buy these and you'll realize how infrequently we have snow on the ground. This winter has been an exception though, same thing with three years ago.
I too wanted to be a mountaineer! My friends and I even took a class on Mount Baker. It's a lot like being on a chain gang. You are tied into a rope with a few others and if you don't move in unison it can be frustrating. I settled on doing some pretty heavy duty backpacking, way more chill. Now I fly fish and just like backpacking, Ohio isn't the best place for it but I've learned to get over what I call "the grass is greener syndrome ".
That's the problem, it doesn't snow enough now... I used to be able to XC on trails in my hometown, now the snow is too thin and patchy. The ice is too thn on the lakes to be trustworthy. We get an extra 3 months of stick season, almost no snow season.
Staying indoors as much as physically possible while going about my time as normal. Got chores or work to do? Business as usual. No work? Just trying to keep busy either on my phone or one of my many electronics (business as usual). Have to walk the dogs? I better make it quick because the cold is not for me.
If anything, I'm just glad I'm not experiencing a winter like last year where there were subzero temperatures and wind making it even worse. Because that kept me wanting to spend zero time outside in any situation. At least this winter I can feel decent about going outside, especially since there's no snow and ice everywhere.
XC skate skiing when there's snow, running with spiked shoes when there's not. Dark when going to/from work usually, so getting out in the weekends is important. Walk/run in the middle of the workday is great, but something that I don't do nearly enough.
D vitamins. I also have a daylight lamp at work, but haven't started using it yet.
I'm traveling in the south right now. That's one way.
- put on 2 of my cheapest pants (both free from the street)
- put on 7 of my cheapest shirts, jackets and hoodies, (mostly free).
- visit the local grocery store,
- buy a liter of vodka and a liter of orange juice (of course cheapest)
- check out for 7€,
- sit in the tram and be obnoxious until everyone looks at us and or tells us to leave. -leave, pee in the freezing cold, run around doing stupid shit.
- go home, smoke weed, fall asleep.
- wake up and DIE from SICKNESS
- have fever for 5 days
- repeat.
That sounds... Finnish.
- Western Oregon. My grandfather moved my family here to avoid the snow. Water should be wet.
- I think I might have reverse SAD because when it's hot and sunny I'm a lump and when it's wet and the days I short I'm a hyper-focused motivation machine.
Stay inside. That's all. The only thing that changes is not as much walking but where I live nothing is walkable so nothing changes much anyways.
Find a parking lot and "drift" my FWD car babyyy
This winter has been unusually warm for me, apparently it's part climate change and part normal stuff.
The darkness still poses a challenge, and I struggle with going outside, so I've tried to make my room as nice as possible, because that's where I spend most of my time. So if you're spending a lot of time at home, try to spruce the space up a little. Make your bed comfier, clean up a little, maybe decorate a bit if possible.
Find something nice to do inside, like a show to watch or a book to read, a game, or a craft. Or if you're more outdoorsy, I guess you could find a winter activity (sledding or skiing when there's enough snow, fishing if that's your thing and you have a place to fish) or maybe just learn to see beaty in nature even when it's grey and wet and cold.
Ihave begun to accept that I simply will never be as 'productive' in winter as I am in summer. One option can be sleeping more, I feel that that's helped me make it mentally.