How do you find happiness or enjoyment in winter?

[Incogg]

I'm already struggling with the cold and rain and dark. In summer, I often drive out to the countryside for a walk or to the coast for a swim in the sea. If nothing else I sit out in the garden enjoying the sun.
But for the last few weeks I feel like I get in from work, get some tea, and am then just wishing my life away until I can go to bed.

Does anyone else relate? And if not, how do you stay cheerful in winter?

Something I heard on the radio today reminded me that after 22 December (I think), the days start to get longer again . Something to look forward to!

Yes @ShinyAppleDreamingOfTheSea its after the Winter Solstice , the days start to get longer.

I'm also keen to start my own traditions with the solstice this year so will be looking for some nice rituals to do then

Thank you everyone, there were so many of you I wanted to respond to, but I couldn't keep track. However, thank you especially to those of you who could empathise or commiserate with me.

I love winter it is my absolute favourite season. I mi have orefer being cooler to being too hot in the summer. I love coming out of work and it's dark snf all the lights in the city are on. I love lighting my candles, being all snuggly! I love that it doesn't get light at like 4 30 am like in the summer.

I'm very much a winter person and I love it!

I used to love this time of year but as I have gotten older it’s been more of a struggle especially with the dark nights, cold , damp wet weather. We lost my dad ten years ago in early December and I had a bad breakdown about five years ago in the November / December . I miss my mom who has dementia . I started watching the reruns of Dawson creek that were showing recently and it became my comfort tv every evening before I cooked tea. It’s the little things in your life that can cheer you up sometimes. Thank you for everyone’s suggestions .

Count the days to the solstice and the nights getting shorter again. (32 and counting).

And plot novel ways to inflict pain on people who witter on about hot choccie, snuggling and blankets.

We live in the south of Italy. Its hot in summer, but often with a sea breeze. It's cold in winter, clear skies, and even a bit of rain. I always feel sad as summer ends here. Its baking hot for months, and I still miss it in winter. Population density plays a part too. Being able to afford a big garden. No traffic chaos, time to chat in shops, a lazier pace all round. I'm definitely happier since living here.

Long walks in the day, come rain or shine but I’m on the very edge of a market town so open countryside within 15 mins and an extensive canal network the other way and again only 15 mins away. I did a 2 hour jaunt yesterday and chatted to a fisherman and a woman with a new baby but it’s always like that along the canal, very friendly.

Horror films, I love them and there is something about watching them alone in the dark curtains pulled in the day before DH gets home, he hates them.

I love very cold weather with sunshine, it’s my favourite. It was 2 degrees yesterday and a bright blue sky, fabulous.

How do you propose that people who leave for work in the dark and come home in the dark fit in a 2-hour walk every day @WellFinch ?

I walk to work so I do get some daylight with that but walking home in the dark and cold is just not the same. It sucks in fact.

I love how all these winter-loving types are saying we must all embrace the winter because it's so nice to "snuggle" (barf!). Why can't they "just" embrace the summer then and enjoy the warmth and light? I'm sorry but it's going to take more than some fluffy socks and a candle to cheer me through January! I do try to be upbeat and proactive about it but everything is just so much more dreary in the damp and dark.

I try to get good sleep wherever possible.

I do agree with getting out every day if possible, even when it’s grey and drizzly. I try to have a walk every day unless there’s torrential rain, and always feel better afterwards - even if only because I feel virtuous for having forced myself when I don’t feel like it!

Now we've got to January, I try to look out for little hints of spring, swelling buds, bulb shoots, the first snowdrops, increasing birdsong.

Valentines Day is roughly halfway between the solstice and equinox and when the sun breaks through, it begins to get a warm glow.

These are small consolations!

It was such a wet autumn, I'm struggling with the mud this year. The fields have already been waterlogged for 3 months so I've had less countryside than usual.

I do find January harder than November or December. The last couple of years I have started a jigsaw and potter about doing a few pieces most evenings it’s better than thing in front of the TV for me and makes me feel a bit more constructive in the long nights.

I've had enough of January now.

To answer the OP, you don't. Well I don't. It's miserable and far far too long (and wet)

Exactly. Their love of winter seems to revolve around making themselves warm. Summer does that at zero cost - what’s their problem?

Agree with doing anything out doors in the morning. Log burner lit in the afternoon if it's really cold. Read lots of good books. Funny ones rather than deeply depressing ones.
Casseroles with lots of vegetables although I've added dumplings tonight.

I really can't face lots of salads just now

Yeah, even the self proclaimed winter lovers don't actually love winter. They just love central heating, double glazing and socks.

I love going for walks in the winter and being out of doors way more than I do in the summer. Different strokes and all that. (Also for the record I hate socks and don’t own a single pair.)

But do you put on a stack of layers and ‘cosy jumpers’ @peachgreen ? Or do you actually enjoy being cold? Do you keep your house warm or revel in sub zero temps in your T shirt?
My point is that even people who bang on about winter don’t actually like being cold. Do you know when I’m rarely cold? Summer. That’s why I like it.

A lot of my enjoyment of winter revolves around food.

I never liked winter and would tell everyone I hated. Then I had a January baby. So it made me look forward to it.
I actually embrace it now. Wrap up well and take the dog out, learn to love the cosy evenings with a candle on, cup of tea, book or Netflix.
Don't watch much tv in summer so I'm using this as my tv binge time.

I had a January baby. Not sure how that connects to hating the cold…
’wrap up well’ ie fight the cold. ‘Cosy’ ( 🤮) evening - ie making your house warm by spending money and wrapping yourself in blankets.
You just about bear it by making yourself warm. Bundled up and uncomfy, but vaguely warm. Apart from your face, of course.
You know what - in the summer I don’t have to expend effort to be warm. It just happens at no cost to me, financial or otherwise. I hate being cold. It makes me properly depressed, and ‘cosy’ is just cold but under a load of heavy uncomfortable blankets/jumpers.

I don't want fluffy throws and candles and brisk winter walks. I want light nights and warmth. So sorry there is no enjoyment in winter.