Tricks to Beat Your Winter Blues

As the peak of fall fades, the trees are losing their leaves, temperatures are dropping, and the hours of daylight are shortening. This decline into winter can be a difficult transition for many of us, especially those who spend most of the warm weather months outside enjoying our favorite hobbies. The time for outdoor rock climbing, backpacking, summer camping, and water sports has come to an end. This is when the winter blues start to sneak in, and seasonal depression tries to take hold of us.

Seasonal depression, or seasonal affective disorder (SAD), commonly affects people when the days get shorter in the fall and winter, and can lead to feelings of depression, hopelessness, helplessness, and loss of interest in social activities. It’s like the high of summer has worn off. Fear not if this sounds like something you experience; there are ways to combat your seasonal depression and thrive in the dark winter months.

Daily Sunrise/Sunsets

Since one of the biggest contributing factors to seasonal depression is the lack of daylight, one of the best solutions is to maximize the amount of daylight you do have. For me, this means seeing the sunrise and sunset every day.

An added bonus to this is that a beautiful sunrise is a magical way to start the day. This past winter in Alaska, the sun wasn’t up until after 10 am, so it was very manageable to catch every sunrise, and it proved to be an important part of my day. Watching the colors of the sky change was magnificent, and I will say the winter mornings had some of the softest and most delicate colors I have ever witnessed.

Outdoor Winter Hobbies

Definitely my biggest saving grace in the winter is having outdoor hobbies. Zach and I greatly enjoy changing our hobbies with the seasons and weather. So when the temperatures drop and the snow starts falling, you can find us outside backcountry skiing and ice climbing.

There are plenty of other options, such as ice skating, cross-country or nordic skiing, snowshoeing, or even winter hiking. Expand your wheelhouse and get out of your comfort zone this winter! When it comes to being outside in winter, your attitude and clothing can make all the difference. 

Diversify Your Indoor Hobbies

Counter to the last trick of finding outdoor winter hobbies, it is also necessary to find indoor hobbies. The sun went down around 3 pm in the winter in Alaska, and once the darkness set in, we made our way inside for the rest of the day. With so much time spent inside, you’d go crazy if you didn’t have any indoor hobbies to occupy yourself with.

Is there something you’ve always wanted to get into but never had the time for, like baking sourdough or making homemade versions of your favorite foods? In Alaska, many locals are working through processing and preserving their foods from summer and fall.

Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn to knit or get out that sewing machine to repair clothes or make your own clothes! Maybe you have a list of books that you haven’t gotten around to yet. Well, get that list out and prioritize all the things you put off all summer long when you were outside playing. Winter is a great time to go inwards, to reset, and realign. 

Find social connection

If you aren’t meeting up with your usual friends to climb or hike or camp, those relationships can become stale, and as a result, we lose out on the social connections that help fuel us. Finding social connection in the dark winter months is important for our mental well-being. Maybe make some new friends who participate in the new outdoor winter hobbies you’ve picked up, or invite friends over to participate in your new indoor hobbies.

Even if cross-country skiing isn’t your passion, getting outside with a friend is always a spark of joy. Invite your new ski friend over for some homemade soup and sourdough if you really want to make the most of your winter day!

Prepare for next season

My final trick to beating your winter blues is to start planning for next season, whatever that means to you. Winter is a great time to clean, organize, and repair gear that received ample wear and tear over the summer. So lube up your camps, stitch up those hiking pants, and patch that holy backpack. Preparing for next season can also mean planning a trip you want to take and making a list of objectives. This helps keep the stoke alive and will make next summer run more smoothly since you’ve already done the logistical legwork ahead of time.

Additionally, you can prepare for next season by developing a cross-training regimen. Strength training and cardio exercises aimed to prepare you for your summer sport can help give you a leg up once your season rolls around. It is much more motivating to be working towards something rather than just going to the gym for the sake of exercise.

Although the warm sunny days of summer have passed, there is a lot of beauty to be found in the dark winter months. Skiing and ice climbing are beautiful ways that I cherish being able to connect with nature. It can feel very intuitive to align with the different seasons and cycles of life. The important thing is to not become stagnant and get caught up in pining for the season past, but rather to find joy in the current season and be open to the beauty it has to offer. 

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