Life Kit

How to actually look forward to winter

November 24, 2025

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  • Acknowledge winter as a natural time for rest, restoration, and moving slower, allowing yourself to hibernate instead of fighting the season. 
  • Prepare for winter by setting up your environment (nesting) with cozy items and adjusting your diet seasonally to reorient your attention toward enjoyable aspects of the season. 
  • Actively notice and articulate the positive details of winter—like the quality of light or the smell of rain—as your mindset directly impacts your physiology and motivation to engage with the season. 

Segments

Winter’s Negative Perception
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(00:00:21)
  • Key Takeaway: Societal marketing idealizes seasons like fall and summer, leading to an unfair, negative focus on winter’s worst days.
  • Summary: Seasons like fall and summer benefit from strong positive marketing, creating romanticized ideals. In contrast, winter is often judged based on its coldest, darkest days, ignoring its potential benefits. This skewed perspective prevents people from extending the same courtesy to winter as they do to other seasons.
Thrumsa Polar Night Research
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(00:01:24)
  • Key Takeaway: Extreme winter locations, like Thrumsa, Norway, do not exhibit the high rates of seasonal affective disorder expected based on typical Western perceptions of darkness.
  • Summary: Psychologist Kari Leibowitz studied human happiness in Thrumsa, Norway, a location experiencing two months of polar night (no sunrise). Contrary to expectations based on a Jersey Shore perspective, research did not show high rates of seasonal affective disorder there. This prompted further research into how people thrive in extreme winter conditions globally.
Adapting to Extreme Winters
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(00:05:22)
  • Key Takeaway: Living in regions with extreme seasonal changes necessitates behavioral adaptation, which is a healthy and useful response to environmental shifts.
  • Summary: In places like the Nordics, the extreme change between seasons forces residents to adjust their behavior to align with the current conditions. This necessary adaptation, unlike the human tendency to fight winter slowdown, mirrors how all other living things adjust their behavior seasonally.
Natural World Slowdown
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(00:06:14)
  • Key Takeaway: Humans often fail to recognize that the natural patterns of rest, hibernation, and slowing down observed in plants and animals should apply to human behavior in winter.
  • Summary: Animals enter states like torpor or hibernate to rest and recuperate during winter, shedding leaves or storing energy. Modern society often frames the desire to slow down in winter as a personal or moral failure, rather than a natural biological response.
Takeaway One: Rest and Slow Down
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(00:07:48)
  • Key Takeaway: Allow yourself to hibernate by observing practices like setting aside a day for rest (Sabbath) or embracing slower paces for meals and activities.
  • Summary: Acknowledge winter as a time for rest and restoration, and stop fighting the urge to move slower. Suggestions include observing a weekly Sabbath free of logistics and screens, having family nap days, and taking longer over everyday tasks like walks or meals.
Takeaway Two: Prepare Your Nest
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(00:08:43)
  • Key Takeaway: Actively preparing for winter by setting up your home environment and creating a list of anticipated seasonal joys shifts your attention away from negative aspects.
  • Summary: Prepare for the transition by bringing out cozy items like sweaters, string lights, and thick curtains to ready your nest. Lighting candles with the intention of celebrating the darkness can profoundly impact your experience. Changing your diet seasonally, such as switching to warm breakfasts, helps physically and mentally orient you into winter mode.
Takeaway Three: Notice the Good
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(00:10:44)
  • Key Takeaway: Mindsets shape physical functioning and emotional well-being; focusing attention on positive winter details makes those experiences more real and accessible.
  • Summary: The details you notice and describe about winter directly influence your experience, as mindsets impact physiology. When you adopt the mindset that winter is wonderful, you are more likely to notice refreshing evening walks or the beauty of indirect light suited for creative pursuits. Changing language, such as saying ‘it’s so cozy in here’ after being outside, influences mood and motivation to seek out nature.
Takeaway Four: Bundle Up Outside
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(00:13:46)
  • Key Takeaway: Embrace ‘Redlufsliv’ (open air life) by dressing properly in layers and waterproof gear to enjoy nature through activities like ‘awe walks.’
  • Summary: Adhering to the Norwegian saying, ’there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing,’ requires proper layering, including waterproof shells and boots. An ‘awe walk’ involves looking at familiar surroundings with fresh eyes to feel wonder, even if starting small with a 15-minute walk. You can reclaim summer activities, like visiting the beach or having picnics, by winterizing them, perhaps using park fire pits for hot food.
Takeaway Five: Accept the Darkness
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(00:19:23)
  • Key Takeaway: Accepting the darkness by turning off overhead lights (‘big light off’) creates intimate, cozy atmospheres that can enhance creativity and provide permission to rest.
  • Summary: The concept of ‘big light off’ involves avoiding harsh overhead lighting in favor of lamps, candles, and soft light to work with the darkness. This creates an intimate, moody vibe that can enhance creativity by reducing inhibitions. Winter darkness offers permission to slow down, engage in simple pleasures, and pursue hobbies like reading or baking without feeling like you are failing to keep up.
Recap and Final Thoughts
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(00:24:44)
  • Key Takeaway: Practicing seasonal slowdown in winter prepares one to handle forced slowdowns due to illness or grief later in life.
  • Summary: The episode recaps five key takeaways: acknowledging winter as a rest period, preparing your physical space, noticing positive details, getting bundled up outside, and accepting the opportunities the darkness provides. Practicing this seasonal slowdown offers a valuable skill for navigating unavoidable difficult periods in life.