I struggle with winter. Fortunately, I don’t experience challenges like seasonal depression. But I really do revel in being outside. That becomes curtailed, and then, on top of it, it becomes harder to socialize. It’s not impossible, but when you’re an extrovert who lives in a wintry climate, that’s not necessarily ideal.
I’ll tell you what got me through it last year: I started privileging novelty.
It didn’t have to be something gigantic, but every day, I would challenge myself to either have a social experience with a friend, visit a community event I’d never attended, or, just as frequently, simply enter a new building, store, coffee shop, or place where I could get a cocktail and read a book.
It’s been a major mood booster.
It’s not that I spiral, but I lose my energy if I don’t have time out in the community. And when you do work like I do, where you give a lot of energy to others, winter can quickly become depleting.
So here we are, with autumn beginning. If this is something that might help you, I offer it as a recommendation. It’s something I’m going to keep up. It makes my days a bit more adventurous, and it gives me a boost of energy I need.
—Renee Roederer
Smuggling Grace 