How to Winter

Title: How To Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days

Author: Kari Leibowitz, PhD

Source: Own

My Review:

As someone who suffers from SAD (seasonal affective disorder), I knew I had to read this book.

Overall, I found it useful with good tips on how to winter well, but I also got bogged down in all the details and research. I ended up skimming the second half of the book, just trying to get the main points, not all the stories before the points.

A few things I gleaned from the book:

• Whether we're aware of them or not, our mindsets impact our experience of winter. (xv)
• Because how we approach winter is a pretty good litmus test for how we approach other dark, difficult seasons in our lives. (xvii)
• Three general strategies for embracing winter:

1. Appreciate winter: look at winter for what it is, and let it be a time for slowing down (20)
2. Make it special: lean into the activities and feelings that are unique to this time of year (20)
3. Get outside: layer up and enjoy the outdoors in all weather(20)

The author expounds upon these three points for the majority of the book. One of the things that made this a harder read for me is that the chapters are really long (272 pages with only 9 chapters). 

If you struggle with winter, this is a helpful book, a tool to be used in the manner in which it best suits you. Some people will appreciate all the stories and the travels the author took while researching this book (they are interesting), and others will find them repetitive (easily skipped to get to the meat of the book).

★★★/5

Synopsis (Goodreads):  

A blend of mindset science, original research, and cultural insights for cultivating a positive “wintertime mindset,” to vanquish winter blues and find joy and comfort in dark times year-round.

Do you dread the end of Daylight Saving Time and grouch about the long, chilly season of gray skies and ice? Do you find yourself in a slump every January and February? What if there were a way to rethink this time of year? Psychologist and winter expert Kari Leibowitz’s galvanizing How to Winter uses mindset science to help readers embrace winter as a season to be enjoyed, not endured—and in turn, learn powerful lessons that can impact our mental wellbeing throughout the year.

Kari Leibowitz moved above the Arctic Circle – where the sun doesn’t rise for two months each winter –expecting to research the season’s negative effects on mental health, only to find that inhabitants actually looked forward to it with delight and enthusiasm. Leibowitz has since travelled to places on earth with some of the coldest, darkest, longest and most intense winters, and discovered the power of “wintertime mindset”— viewing the season as full of opportunity and wonder. Impactful strategies for cultivating this wintertime mindset can teach us not just about braving the gray, cold months of the year, but also the darker and more difficult seasons of life.

• In Tromsø, Norway, people live in rhythm with nature, adapting to the months-long Polar Night by honoring seasonal fluctuations in energy, slowing down, and resting more.
• On the Isle of Lewis, off the coast of Scotland, communal gatherings around roaring fires embrace darkness and provide connection during long nights.
• In Yamagata, Japan, families sink into steaming onsen baths, banishing the chill of winter with healthful soaks that improve sleep and reduce risk of heart attack.

Inspired by cutting-edge psychological and behavioral science research as well as cultures worldwide that find warmth and joy in winter’s extremes, How to Winter provides readers with concrete tools for making winter wonderful wherever they live and harnessing the power of small mindset changes with big impact to help readers embrace every season of life.