How to Embrace Winter: Seven Things to make you Cheerful Even When it’s Grey Outside

Winter is here. Let’s make the most of it.

It seems like only last month that I was still wearing shorts to work, desperately clinging to the last few rays of weak summer sunshine.

“It can’t be autumn yet…”

It was. Now even that has slunk away and, as leaves crunch under foot, there’s a chill in the air on my walks from the village.

My shorts are stowed beneath the bed for another year, and I’ve extracted my wetsuit, eagerly anticipating its first use this winter. Despite the persistence of greenery in the hedgerows, and the delayed annual leaf fall caused by the unseasonal mild weather, winter is now, decidedly, upon us.

For some, winter is something to look forward to, but I know others groan at the first lick of frost. So, for the latter, here are seven ways to survive the darker months.

Seven things to make you cheerful even when it’s grey outside

1.      Wrap up warm

How many times have I heard colleagues complain that it’s cold in winter? Too many. It does tend to be colder during winter in a temperate climate. I’ve had thirty-something Great British winters to get used to that idea, and you know what makes it easier to deal with? Snuggling. It’s a shocker, but warm jumpers keep you cosy and snug.

Kit yourself out with toasty walking socks to keep your feet warm when out walking and go for several layers of clothing rather than one big jumper. Carry a spare in a waterproof bag in your backpack so that if you get caught in a chilly downpour you have something else warm to put on, and make sure that your waterproof jacket is doing its job. If it’s no longer waterproof, it may just need re-treating. Ask in your nearest outdoor shop for something to re-proof your waterproofs with. They’ll point you to the right products to ensure you’re protected from that nasty, cold rain.

Not going out for a walk in winter because it’s ‘cold’ seems an awful reason to miss out on nature for several months a year. A little wardrobe planning can go a long way to mitigate the effects of ‘bad’ weather.

2.      Look at naked trees

It’s the time of year when trees get naked. Don’t feel down that the leaves have gone. This is the best time to really see what trees look like under all those leafy layers.

They may look stark and exposed, but leafless trees aren’t a sad sight. For deciduous trees, losing their leaves is necessary to protect the tree. They need to do it to survive winter. As the days grow shorter, and access to sunlight becomes more limited, it makes no sense to produce so much chlorophyll. Losing leaves helps trees to conserve energy during winter and increases the likelihood of surviving strong winds over the stormier months.

Rather than thinking of leafless trees as gloomy, try to remember what an ingenious survival mechanism leaf fall is, and appreciate the shapes and forms revealed to us for this short period before the leaves grow back next year.

3.      Smile

Winter is harder for some people than others. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) can cause us to feel low in certain weathers or seasons although, interestingly, it can happen in summer as well as in winter. It can be easy to look at the grey skies and feel like your walking boots have less spring in their step.

Smiling doesn’t solve everything, and it’s hard to force when you’re down, but smiling kicks our cheerful hormones up the backside and make them do some work. Anyone who’s ever felt low, only to be greeted with a “cheer up, love, it ain’t that bad” from a passing stranger can testify how hard it is to fake a smile (and how difficult it is not to be very rude in reply). It takes effort, but even a forced smile can help us in hard times.

Smiling is part of a positive feedback loop in our brains. Smiles send signals to the brain which result in endorphin production. Endorphin production causes us to feel happy and smile more. So, if you’re feeling down on a winter wander, smiling to yourself as you walk might actually be doing something positive. Don’t worry about looking odd, if anything, you might pass it on to someone else!

4.      Stargaze

Shortened days mean longer nights, and longer nights mean more opportunities for stargazing. Not every night is a good time to watch the stars. It’s no fun in the rain and it’s not possible on a cloudy night, but thankfully we have a whole winter of nights to choose from. This means there are more evening opportunities to visit places with lower light pollution, which can be difficult to plan around other responsibilities.

If you fancy learning a new skill, then our long winters could be the best time to pick up some astronomical knowledge. There are apps to help you understand what you’re seeing if you’re a beginner, or you could wrap up warm and enjoy renaming the constellations yourself, like cloud-gazing for the nocturnally inclined.  

Being able to spot a few constellations is exciting even if, like me, you’re limited to ‘the saucepan’, that ‘Orion chap with the belt’ and ‘the big bear’.

5.      Attack the ‘to-be-read’ pile

If it’s pelting down with rain and your clothes are still wet from yesterday, sometimes you just have to admit defeat and stay indoors. If you don’t like going out in bad weather, you’re not alone. There’s far less social pressure to leave the house on dark and soggy days. If you have a pile of books or magazines waiting patiently to be devoured, then this is a great time to dive in.

This winter I’m looking forward to escaping into the jungle in Redmond O’Hanlon’s Congo Journey, then returning to winter for a more seasonal read with The Light in the Dark by Horatio Clare.

6.      Go birding

Winter isn’t a bad time to look for birds. Some migrants have headed south to warmer places, but plenty of birds are still here if we brave the chill to look for them. Fieldfares and redwings arrive in the UK for the colder months of the year, and our starlings are boosted in numbers by others looking to escape harsher weather elsewhere. Watching a starling murmuration, their great formation flying display, is a spectacular experience to tick off the winter to-do list if you haven’t already 

The RSPB website has a Nature’s Calendar which provides a month by month breakdown of the species you can expect to find throughout the year. Birds don’t have the luxury of staying in with the central heating on, so grab some binoculars and join them!

7.      Hibernate

If all else fails, try hibernating. Winter doesn’t last forever, although it can feel like it when it’s cold and you’re trying to fall asleep after the heating’s gone off for the night. Hibernation gives hedgehogs, bats and dormice a chance to survive the winter, so maybe we could take a few tips from them.

Making a cosy den, gathering hot chocolate supplies and snuggling away from the world until spring returns doesn’t sound like the worst idea. Unfortunately, being human, you might have to emerge from time to time for inconvenient things such as work and food shopping, but it’s tempting to spend the rest of the colder months hunkered down, saving energy, and making plans for next year. If animals can get away with it, then perhaps we can too?

Winter doesn’t last forever…

What are your tips for surviving the winter?