Inspiration
Seasonal self-care: Winter Happiness
De heldin Umekawa in de sneeuw, Kitano Tsunetomi, 1923. Rijksmuseum; used with permission.
Alert: winter-themed content ahead!
As always with these seasonal considerations, if you are about to enjoy summer right now, just clip and save! (Here’s how to bookmark anything on MDK.) And if you do not have seasons where you live, I think you will find this proposal adapts quite well to the seasons of life.
Last year I was introduced to Amelia Greenhall’s winter happiness plan. Amelia, who you may know from her sewing projects at All Well, has been planning for winter happiness for more than a dozen years.
That her approach goes beyond the survival checklist and sets course for joy? So rad.
I mention this today because when I discovered the WHP it was a little too late in the year. I wanted to make sure we all had enough runway in 2024.
In considering my own WHP this year, I also remembered my word of the year—conveniently written in boldface on the cover of my bujo—which is “choose.” For me it’s a reminder to act decisively. Not to dither endlessly among a constantly expanding list of possibilities, as is my wont. But to commit.
My WHP. Steal it, riff on it, do the opposite.
Your way to do this is the right way to do this. But here’s how I did it: I picked some areas where happiness may be found. This year for me it’s learning, craft, being outside, people, celebration and wild-card-extravagant-something-something (placeholder category! I’m not sure yet! It’s not indecisive it’s … spacious.).
You could pick “something old, something new, something borrowed (you don’t have to make this up from scratch!), something tropical.”
Or as Amelia says, it doesn’t have to be areas. Could be bullet points.
My plan, which I will add to over the coming weeks, includes Korean conversation class—so much more convivial than grammar study.
I’ll celebrate the change in weather with personal holidays like First Cassoulet of the Season. We can always use another holiday.
I’m also looking forward to finishing my horseshoe lace capelet so I can start knitting with Jane! (I’ve got my eye on an Outline Tee in Peony.)
And I’m going to keep cold dipping just as long as I can.
Even more happily, most of these things involve being with people.
I always want to hear from you but I’m especially keen this month, as my plan is still taking shape.
Have you ever made a WHP? What brings you happiness in the winter? Do you or your family have personal holidays? Please add your thoughts to the comments below, and may we all be happier this winter for it.
Resources: How to Make a Winter Happiness Plan
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This I such a great post – I am already dreading winter and it is still sunny and warm outside. I am going to definitely try this idea.
I guess I have a vague winter plan most years and it’s based on things to lighten and brighten the inevitable dark days, both actual and metaphorical. As I live in an area where the weather affects daily life and many people take their holidays, there is a marked difference between the seasons. I love the peace and remoteness, the space to be alone, and winter can be great for that; it can also be mindcrushingly grim. I need to make and create, it’s essential to my health, and a time of less distraction from summer pastimes is great for that so roll on wool knitting time. If summer has involved lots of time spent outside and I’ve stocked up on that, then I can look forward to the soups and stews and comfort food of winter. And those dark days by the woodburner with hot drinks and a book are to be relished. But the main plan is lots of ideas for projects to learn, make and progress whilst remembering to be kind to myself and enjoy company too.
I just changed my Pandora station to more Irish music, will burn more scented candles and bake more fruit desserts, planning a schedule of photo projects, quilting, spinning, and Ancestry, walks in the woods, and of course a variety of knitting projects. I’m also planning a monthly tea party with old friends and people I want to get to know better! The keys for me are schedule, sensory stimulation, physical activity, and companionship. Bring it on Winter, I’m ready for ya
I love the tea party idea, how fun! It’s a perfect candidate for a recurring personal holiday, too!
I love the tea party idea with people I want to know better! I’m also planning a soup night at our house, I’ll have several choices available…gathering close those near and dear to us.
Winter is my happy place! The garden and all yard work (we have a big yard) is put to bed. Sweaters come out! More sweaters on the needles! Sewing projects that there is not time for in the summer. Soups and snow days and of course there is skiing and snowman making with the Grandkids! I love winter, bring it on!! ⛄️❄️
Thank you for your optimism.
You are always so kind and gentle with your presentations.
I will plan some WHP….. but…..
WHP: clean/replace all lightbulbs in the house; choose least favorite lamp—replace with new lamp or new shade. All in preparation to accept knitting in the dark starts earlier. Red wine.
OMG, Max, this is like proof that the cosmos is listening! I sat at my work table yesterday feeling the seasons changing and almost starting to dread the notion of winter and thought “I should make a plan.” And here you popped up on MDK! With a plan for a plan!!
I have no idea what the plan will entail but the affirmation that a plan is a possibility and even a good idea just makes my day!
It will include color, personal holidays, (and maybe less of the official ones) and finding ways to be in nature.
Thanks!!
This is so timely. We are approaching October, which is my very favorite month, and I think I’ll make a WHP too. I love the idea of a monthly tea party.
I just finished my Dahlia color explosion scarf and I’ll start my first Jane project : Isabell Kraemer’s Copenhagen Calling in Marigold and Bluebell. It’s all ready to go in my knitting basket.
I love this! What a great idea… working on my WHP right now! Thank you.
I want to become a candle person. I have several unburned ones around the house. Also change from homemade iced tea to hot tea using herbs from the garden. Soups, stews, apple pastries with cinnamon. Pumpkin pie, squashes. Collecting leaves, sticks, pinecones. Museums. November is my fave month. Getting outside more. Being an Angelino, summer means I stay inside and fall/winter means I get to go outside. Rejoicing when we get rain. Finally knitting a sweater that fits. I could go on, but this is a good start. Thank you for this interesting essay.
Another Angelino?? So, you’ve been sweltering through this horrid summer too? I’ve been waiting (and waiting and waiting) for cooler weather. Looking forward to whatever rain we get.
What a great idea! I intend to find my project and make it a goal. I always love your articles.
Love your posts. Appreciate the season plan idea. For me it’s summer (so much work for this “energetically challenged since I was a child and aging now human,”
socializing, too hot, days are too long, just generally way too intense). I can take notes now for what I do enjoy about summer and brainstorm plan ideas to make the most of those so I won’t dread it so much. Brilliant!
Love this reversal of the idea! I think I’m the same – I dread summer more than winter. Rewriting my Summer Survival Plan as a Summer Happiness Plan feels like a brilliant idea.
I’m going to do the same. I love winter but really struggle with the heat, the humidity, the mosquitos (!!) during the summer. This year I’ve tried to make friends with summer, and it helped; next year I’m making a plan.
I purchased some material from Alabama Studio after taking the online course through MDK with Nathalie Chanin. My WHP is to make a top and skirt for myself. I did consciously think about making this a winter project before reading your idea of WHP as I find the winter months long and wanted to give myself a project for the winter besides my usual knitting projects. I love this idea and will make it a yearly plan
Cold dipping?
Great idea!! We’ve had a horrid summer of too many days in the triple digits. Now that it’s finally cooling I can get out my UFOs and get back to work. Cats on my lap. Candles wafting lovely fragrances. Making soups and casseroles with a friend in her “cook’s” kitchen. Sharing meals and good wines with friends. Going to the big Christmas show at a local college. Wearing sweaters again!! Thanks for reminding me of my favorite time of year and the joys I find there.
When the days get shorter, especially after the time change, I light a candle or two or three in the morning when I get up. I find I really look forward to that. And then, when the sun dips behind the mountain by 330pm, I use that as an excuse to make a fire (a wood fire) in the fireplace. So I guess fire really features in my winter happiness plans! I really don’t mind the winter when I have these rituals to look forward to every day.
I like winter better than summer so perhaps I should make a SHP in the Spring! I spend the summer at a log cabin on a lake which would be even more perfect if it were near my family. My summer will be ending this week so doing the WHP was perfectly timed. It includes lots of unallocated time to fill with homey activities, quilting, knitting, reading, baking, and reading. Allocated is four late afternoons a week to spend with four of my grandsons, one at a time. Daily dog walking, travel & travel planning, occasional lunch with friends , and a book club. I’m 73 and I’ve reached a point where I’m looking for ease and enjoyment, rather than accomplishment.
When it starts to get dark earlier than I like, I tape fairy lights above the windows and set them on the battery timer setting to turn on as the sun starts to go down – the ones I buy have a 6 hour timer. If you don’t have a cat who eats cords, you can do icicle lights on a lamp timer. Some windows I’ll hang two sets of fairy lights at – one for morning and one for evening. Also, lamps on timers – especially if you come home when it’s dark.
October is for pumpkin bread, November for gingerbread (the soft cake like one), and December for dille bread (google it, uses dill seed). January I leave up winter decor that I also use in December to decorate – taking down all the fun colors at once makes winter harder. And I’ve started to decorate valentine-esq in February – stretching the red and adding pink and green.
I never really decorated for the months before but as I’ve gotten older and while we lived in the PNW, it really helped. I’m back in sunny CA but I think I’ll keep up the decorating – it was fun to see! Plus, spending more time at home it’s nice to have a way to see the changes of the months.
I keep it simple by using pillow covers on my sofa pillows and changing out my table centerpiece – for me, those two are enough of an impact.