How ‘Wintering’ has changed my perspective and improved my mental health

For the past few years, I have been making a more concerted effort to take care of my mental health during these seasonal changes. An introvert at heart hygiene it’s my jam Snuggle under a blanket with a hot cup of coffee? Yes please.

However, what really transformed my perspective on winter and helped my mental health in the process has been the concept of getting through the winter. popularized by Katherine May in her book of the same name –Getting Through the Winter: The Power of Rest and Retirement in Hard Times – Wintering has not only changed the way I see this season in the calendar, but also similar seasons of life.

Central to May’s book and the concept of overwintering is adjusting our perspective of winter, be it the literal or metaphorical variety, from one of desolation to one of renewal. Winters, after all, are essential for regrowth.

“Getting through the winter sparks some of the deepest and most insightful moments in our human experience, and wisdom lies with those who have made it through the winter,” May writes.

Just reading these words last year, in the depths of a pandemic winter in the Upper Midwest, where the cold is not just cold but downright frigid – brought comfort in this painful season. Instead of something to endure and wish would go away, winter began to feel almost honorable. And my new acceptance of it began to feel radical and rebellious. Instead of feeling like there was something wrong with me for feeling a little sluggish, anxious, and desperate, I felt an almost giddy ease, as if I had a secret that these feelings were not only okay, but necessary.

At its core, getting through the winter, at least for me, is about shifting my perspective and paying attention. “When you start to tune in to winter, you realize that we live through a thousand winters in our lifetimes, some big, some small,” May writes. While this may seem like a pessimistic approach, it’s comforting to know that we’ve gotten through tough, difficult, and lonely times before, and that we can do it again.

These winters of our lives need not be feared or avoided, but rather nurtured with care and compassion. I suspect the last two years have felt like an endless winter for many of us. Even when things seem reasonably “okay,” there’s a subliminal heaviness in my psyche. I feel stuck and confused, lethargic and anxious all at the same time. I want to heal

Don’t get me wrong, winter didn’t magically “fix” anything, but it did cause a subtle change in me that snowballed (pardon the winter pun) into something more comfortable. Or at least less brutal.

So what is wintering like for me and how does it help my mental health?

Well, here are some things that I have tried to incorporate into my life during the winter, whether it is in the months of December through February or some other time of the year:

Trust my intuition and feel the sensations. Once I accepted winters as a necessary and perhaps even useful part of life, I was able to accept them more easily. If I feel sad or lonely, I allow myself to feel sad and lonely. The same with joy and comfort. We don’t need to ignore our sadness, or pretend it’s not there; nor do we need to alter our joy and satisfaction. We just need to trust ourselves. “Wintering,” May writes, “is a moment of insight, our true needs felt sharp as a knife.”

Give me permission to rest, like, Reallyto rest. Lying on the couch while my mind races with all the things I “should” be doing isn’t really resting. It’s also not resting if I feel guilty about how or when you rest. Wintering gives us permission to rest when and how we need it. No questions asked. That means more sleep too. With darkness engulfing our home earlier, we might feel an almost circadian need to get more sleep. This is normal and good.

Get fit with winter. In her book, May tells the story of swimming in cold water (and by cold I mean 37 degrees Fahrenheit cold). She was almost shivering just reading it, but there was also something exhilarating about it.

“Immersion in cold water has been shown to increase levels of dopamine, the neurotransmitter that stimulates the brain’s reward and pleasure centers, by 250 percent,” May notes in the book. “A recent study found that regular winter swimming significantly reduced stress and fatigue, as well as negative states associated with memory and mood, and improved swimmers’ overall sense of well-being.”

I’m not going to start swimming in Lake Michigan in the middle of January, but this concept has changed my perspective. I’m more likely to throw cold water at the end of the shower, and I was more looking forward to hiking to a cold mountain lake on vacation this summer, rather than sitting on the rocky shore like I would have in the past. . I feel energized and at peace, all at the same time, at the same time that I feel a clarity that I cannot pinpoint. Bottom line: It feels good even if it feels uncomfortable.

Do not be ashamed or ashamed of the dark and difficult times.. As May writes, “Everyone goes through winter at one time or another; something winter again and again.” In our bright and edited social media culture, it can be easy to think that we are alone in our struggles, mental health challenges, and difficult times. But that is simply not true.

Our inability to accept, hold space, and even nurture our pain does not stem from a personality flaw or weakness, but simply because we were not given the tools to do otherwise. As May writes, “We were not raised to recognize wintering or to recognize its inevitability. Instead, we tend to see it as a humiliation, something that needs to be hidden so as not to cause a huge shock to the world.”

I have been open about my mental health challenges, but the concept of going through the winter has helped me to be more open about these challenges in real time. I’m much more likely to say, “I’m struggling” or “I’m dealing with a little depression right now,” than to wait until I “feel better.” And this distinction has been instrumental in getting the help and support so that I can really feel better.

Wintering isn’t just about comfy socks, burning candles, and knitting under a duvet. Although they can certainly be those things as well. Mainly it is about seeing winter and any difficult or dark times in our lives, for what they are: essential. Getting through the winter is about shutting down the constant hustle and bustle of our lives that we sometimes use to mask our pain, anxiety, or sadness so that we can recover, heal, and grow.