The Secret to Enjoying Long Dark Cold Winter Months

The dreaded winter season raises in many of us the question on how to best cope with months filled in darkness and freezing temperatures?

According to Kari Leibowitz, who spent from August 2014 to June 2015, as a university student researcher in Tromsø, Norway, changing your mindset might be a solution for your winter blues.

Tromsø a tiny island, slightly over 200 miles from the arctic circle is so far north that during the Polar Night from late November to late January the sun doesn’t rise above the horizon.

Notwithstanding the city’s extreme darkness, research has revealed that In this sub-arctic population of Tromsø have lower rates of wintertime depression than would be expected. 

Several months into her research, during a conversation with a friend Leibowitz realized she was using the wrong approach, when her friend replied without pausing, “I wouldn’t necessarily say summer is the best (Tromsø) season.” (Tromsø has only two seasons: a long winter and a very short summer)

Instead of asking “Why aren’t people here more depressed”, Leibowitz began asking “Why don’t you have seasonal depression?” the answer was “Why would we?”

In northern Norway, “people view winter as something to be enjoyed, not something to be endured,” says Leibowitz.

In her The Atlantic feature, Leibowitz writes: “The prevailing sentiment is that winter is something to be enjoyed, not something to be endured. According to my friends, winter in Tromsø would be full of snow, skiing, the northern lights, and all things koselig, the Norwegian word for “cozy.”  

“By November, open-flame candles would adorn every café, restaurant, home, and even workspace. Over the following months I learned firsthand that, far from a period of absolute darkness, the Polar Night in Tromsø is a time of beautiful colors and soft, indirect light.”

A Positive Wintertime Mindset

Start by refusing to participate in what author Laura Vanderkam calls the Misery Olympics. Instead, “Talk about how the cold gives you a chance to drink tea or hot chocolate all day. Talk about ice skating or building snowmen. Bundle up and go for a walk outside, knowing that you’ll likely feel warmer and happier after a few minutes. Better yet, go with a friend. Social plans are a great reason to haul yourself out from under the covers.”

“It doesn’t have to be this huge complicated thing,” says Leibowitz. “You can just consciously try to have a positive wintertime mindset and that might be enough to induce it.”