5 Ways to Brighten Those Winter Blues
Remember back in November when I featured my friend Bekah from Hope For the Hot Mess? If you missed that post, you can check it out here. Well we decided to do a blog swap again!
You can check out my post, “How A Mouse Forced Me to Rest,” on Bekah’s blog. This week, Bekah is BACK on Coffee With Keri and I love this post. She has so many great ideas to beat the winter blues!
Is it spring yet?
LOLZ. No, it’s not. It’s not even March yet.
Since we haven’t gotten any snow yet, and we DEFINITELY can’t get off that easy, I’m guessing we’re going to get some ridiculous storm of epic proportions on a random Tuesday at the end of March and it’s going to rock our world for about 2 hours and then it will go back to being annoyingly cold til mid-April.
There, I said it. You can hate me, but that’s my guess.
As you can see, I have a pretty negative prediction of our future weather patterns, so I called myself out on it. I said to myself, “Self, you’re looking at the glass half empty. Why not try focusing on the positive things about the time we have right now?”
Solid point, Self.
While we’re all craving a little sunshine and a warm breeze (myself included), this chilly time of year is precious.
Why, you ask? Because this is the time of year we can do the things we talk about doing all year long.
You know exactly what I’m talking about. The fancy recipe on Pinterest you’ve been dying to try and take photos to post on Instagram. The museum exhibit that sounds fascinating but you seem to never have time. The home improvement project that you’ve kept saying “you really need to do”, whether it be painting or cleaning out your basement. Now is the perfect time for those things!! We know that we’re not going to do these things during the summer when we could be at the pool or the beach, so why not enjoy the yucky weather by using this time to do the fun indoor activities we pin for a “rainy day”. News flash: it rained almost every day last week. Now. Is. The. Time.
I don’t know about you, but I’m the kind of person where I can have a running list of things I’d like to do, but if you ask me out of the blue, I CANNOT for the life of me recall a single things I have ever enjoyed doing. The struggle is SO real.
I thought maybe some of you might suffer from the same kind of “fun amnesia”, so I made a list of 5 things you can do to actually enjoy what is left of a dreary and cold winter. You’re welcome.
COOKING.
For some of us, cooking (or baking!) is a chore. If you’re one of those people, you may want to skip to the next one. For the rest of us, cooking is a hobby or at least a fun thing to do. So many of us save dozens of recipes we find, in hopes that one day we will make them. However, if you’re like me, then you find yourself making the same 5 recipes all winter long because they’re simple, half-decent, healthy or take 30 minutes. Or any combination of those four things. I am personally in the middle of a “food funk” if you will, and I swear I would rather starve than have chili again. It’s fun to try something new, and it can lead to new traditions, favorite meals, or even appliances. Side note: EVERYONE is debating the Instant Pot vs. Air Fryer, and I am loving all the recipes I’m hearing about. I also know that in the middle of July, I am way less likely to try a new recipe that requires me to use my oven for over an hour. I simply REFUSE to add heat to my house when I’m trying so hard to keep it cool, so now is a much better time to bake a new cake, since its basically free heat. AND CAKE. Spend a day with a friend or family member and make a new recipe that you’ve been dying to try. At the very least, you spent a fun afternoon together, and at best, you created a delicious masterpiece to share. There is no losing.
CRAFTS.
I am not a particularly crafty person, but there are so many fun things you can make at home. A co-worker of mine just made homemade bath bombs for her nieces and nephews, and they turned out to be perfect gifts!! I love homemade gifts, and it’s helpful to plan out the time to make something new when you do have the time. She went all out and even got the shrink wrap that shrinks when you use a hair dryer on it! It was very cool. Some people knit or crochet, and others like to print photos and make fun frames for them. So I’m thinking you can pretty much knock out a solid chunk of Christmas or birthday gifts if you wanted to spend a day making some fun crafts.
DAY TRIPS.
For me, this time of year is “museum season”. It’s cold and gloomy and sometimes we are sick of being cooped up in our homes, so why not take a day trip to a museum? Keri and Luke just visit the aquarium in Baltimore last weekend! That girl knows what’s up, let me tell ya. There are so many fun museums you can go for the day, including, but not limited to, the Smithsonians (my FAVES), the Franklin Institute, Port Discovery (if you have kids), Philly Art Museum, and even more local museums, like the Hagley Museum in Wilmington. Museums are my jam, and I would much rather go on a yucky day, then on a sunny one. If museums aren’t your jam, no worries. Day trips can be anywhere and anything. Driving down to the beach to have dinner and see the ocean is a great idea, and it’s free, with no crowds. If you’re into breweries, check out a local brewery tour. I love shows, so you can also do lunch and then the theatre in a nearby city. Hockey games are always a winner. Paint Nights, comedy shows, axe-throwing; the list goes on and on. If you think there’s nothing to do, just check your local area on Groupon. There are so many things to do, you just have to look.
HOME IMPROVEMENT.
We bought our house in August 2018, and finished up the renovations in December 2018. I JUST now finished painting the trim on my staircase three weeks ago. it was an eyesore but it wasn’t important enough for me to make the time. Anyway, I had a free weekend, and it was cold out, so I knocked it out and I can’t believe I waited so long to do it. Maybe you want to paint your bathroom or add shelves to your office. Or redecorate. Or you want to clean out your basement after all those years. Or even just installing an organizational system to your closet. Any and all of these things can bring you pride and a feeling of accomplishment on a weekend that you may have otherwise just sat an binge-watched Netflix.
PLAN AND HOST A PARTY!
Although it seems like we’re not celebrating much right now after the holiday season, there is ALWAYS a reason to have a party. Even if it’s a small party with your family or a few friends. Next weekend, our neighbors invited us over to have a Frozen 2 viewing party, and I am STOKED. First, I LOVE FROZEN 2. Second, watching it with a 4 and 7 year old is what dreams are made of. And lastly, I love that their mom is going all out and we’re even making Frozen-themed snacks. We are making this a very big deal, because we can, and that’s what life is about. Celebrating every day with the people who matter. This party has been on my calendar for two weeks now, and I’m not missing it for the world.
This may not be “the most wonderful time of the year”, but it can be wonderful. It can be fun and exciting and a time for trying new things and experiences, but at the end of the day, it’s about your mindset. How are you facing the coming weeks of dismal weather? Are you dreading it and already wishing it was spring? Or are you maximizing this time by trying and experiencing new things that we usually don’t have time to do? Even if you don’t have a chance to do all the things, it’s the mindset that counts.
It may not be the “most wonderful time of the year”, but you can make it wonderful anyway.
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” Ecclesiastes 3:1
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2