Winter Sucks! The days are short, it’s cold and dark, to just make it a bit more miserable we’re literally burning £50 notes to keep warm and have the lights on! Don’t worry, we’ve got some great survival tips to help you through to Spring.
It can be really hard to stay positive at this time of the year. But with the right strategies, you can maintain your mental health and stay positive despite the winter blues. Here are some easy ways to keep your mental health in check during the winter months:
Make Time for Self-Care & Self-Love
Stop sniggering… Not that sort of self-love (although it may release some endorphins…) Self-care and self-love are essential for our mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. It is important to take time out of our busy lives to make sure that we are taking care of ourselves.
Self-care can be as simple as taking a few minutes each day to do something that brings you joy or relaxation. This could include going for a walk, listening to music, reading a book, or meditating. Self-love activities can include writing in a journal, creating affirmations, and engaging in activities that make you feel good about yourself.
By making time for self-care and self-love, we can ensure that we are taking the steps necessary to take better care of ourselves. These activities are not only beneficial for our mental health but also help us create healthier relationships with ourselves and others.
Build Healthy Habits to Feel Energised & Refreshed
With the winter season upon us, it’s more important than ever to build healthy habits that will help us feel energised and refreshed. From making sure we get enough sleep to eating nutritious meals, there are many things we can do to take care of our physical and mental health during this time of year. We can also incorporate activities like yoga and meditation into our daily routine to help reduce stress and anxiety. By taking the time to focus on ourselves, we can ensure that we stay energized and refreshed throughout the winter months.
Rekindle Connections with Supportive Friends & Family
We all need a support system to get us through life’s challenges and successes. Having supportive family and friends is an important part of our overall wellbeing. It’s time to rekindle those connections with the people who care about you and make you feel loved.
Spending time together with friends and family can help us remember why we value these relationships in the first place. Whether it’s seeing each other in person, partying, or just being social online, making an effort to reconnect can be beneficial for everyone involved. Reconnecting with your support system will help remind you how much they mean to you and how much they can give back when times are tough.
Stay Warm and Cosy
Try not to get sucked into those Instagram shorts of people warming their whole house with a tin can and a nightlight candle, that’s obviously not going to do much! Instead wrap up warm, and layer up your clothes. I literally live in my Selkbag sleeping bag suit at the moment, and the feeling of looking like a total tit is quickly offset by the fact I’m not having to run my central heating during the day and keeping toasty warm. A good thick blanket (even better a heated one) will let you snuggle up in front of the TV.
Make love, not bills
It’s getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes! Did you know that even flirting can raise the body temperature, nothing quite beats a bit of rumpy pumpy under the covers for working up a sweat! So dig out that copy of the Kama Sutra and see how many moves you can tick off! The Butter Churner collectively burns the most calories for him and her, so that’s probably a good place to start! Cosmo magazine came up with a 30-day sex positions challenge which might also provide some inspiration!
Work up a sweat
If you still have some energy left after all that shagging, then keeping fit not only works wonders for your mental health, but also does a good job of keeping the body warm and the blood pumping! There are loads of quick and easy exercises you can do around your day-to-day routine. The 7-minute work out or Hiit workouts take no time at all. Even working through a hundred sit-ups or push-ups throughout the day is a great way to break things up and can be done pretty much anywhere with no gym membership needed.
Treat yourself
Finally, once you’ve done loads of exercise and rekindled contact with long-lost friends, take some time out for yourself, and indulge in a bit of you time! Rewards come in all shapes and sizes (not just extravagant shopping trips) so find some good rewards that you can focus on to treat yourself after good behaviour. Having something to look forward to really helps battle through some of the hard to motivate activities. Set some goals and then some rewards, and crack on with earning them!
