Cultivate Sunshine While It’s Cold Outside
It’s chilly and rainy, and the days keep getting shorter and darker. So it’s that time of year when it’s extra important to be good to yourself. There are many ways to cultivate some metaphorical sunshine while it’s cold outside. What are some of your favorite ways to stay warm and toasty? Here are a few of my favorites:
Turn Up the Heat
On those especially cold days, crank up the temperature at home, at work, and in your car. My husband doesn’t like as much heat as I do. So we compromise, and save money and energy, by closing doors and using space heaters and cozy blankets. And having a warm electric blanket on my office chair has changed my life in all the right ways. Enjoy a wood stove, fireplace, or hot tub whenever you get the opportunity. Find creative ways to add heat, so you can make your environment cozy comfortable. It takes the edge off.
Enjoy Hot Beverages
Warm up your winter with hot beverages all day long. There are lots of great options: coffee and tea, with or without caffeine. Or hot water with lemon, hot apple cider, hot chocolate, and hot cocktails. My personal favorites are black coffee in the morning, and green tea the rest of the day. It can be comforting to use just the right mug, but even a paper cup will do in a pinch. Hot beverages have a comforting way of warming up your world.
Dress Warm
Have fun mixing scarves, hats, gloves, wool socks, boots, and heavy coats into your wardrobe. Wear layers. Always have an umbrella handy. You can be fashionable and warm and dry. I always have to remind myself of that. Warm clothing makes the winter more inviting and doable.
Get Some Sun When Possible
The sun is elusive in the winter. But whether it’s sunny or not, find a way to get outside. I go for a couple walks almost every day at work, because getting outside keeps my mood sunny. It’s nice to soak up the vitamin D through the clouds, or directly from the sun when I’m lucky.
Creative Lighting
Add warm lighting details in your environment to maximize the feeling of warmth. You can do this with holiday lights, artisan lightbulbs, lamps, and fireplaces. Even fake LED fireplaces give a room a nice glow. And little lighting details go a long way. My 2.5-year-old son loves his noise machine that projects the moon and stars onto the ceiling.
People Who Light You Up
Some people, and pets, have a way of adding sunshine to our lives. In the chilly months, make an extra effort to spend time with your favorite bright and beautiful personalities. This might mean staying in with family, or getting out to celebrate the holidays with friends, or enjoying festivities with colleagues, or connecting with loved ones remotely, or cuddling with your sweetheart, or sitting by your fake fireplace to quietly pet your cat. Give hugs, distribute gifts, and send holiday cards, if that’s your thing. Enjoy the warmth of your community in the ways that feel best to you.
Radiate Sunshine
The dark, cold winter months are an excellent time to practice being a person who radiates sunshine. So be really kind to yourself, trust yourself, and recognize your own tremendous value. Be really good to other people too, and take pleasure in supporting them and watching them succeed. Enjoy your own success too. But also, allow yourself to be “happy just because”, for no good reason at all. Accept yourself and others as imperfectly perfect. Spend many moments cultivating your gratitude, joy, and warmth.
Those are my most favorite ways to cultivate sunshine when it’s cold outside. Feel free to use them. I’d love to hear your best tips as well, because you can never have too many tactics for staying warm and cozy. So please feel free share in the comments. I wish you a toasty winter!
