How to Enjoy Winter: 10 Mindset Shifts to Thrive During the Cold Months

(A mindset shift inspired by How to Winter by Kari Leibowitz)

I used to dread winter.

Even before the first whisper of cold touched my face, I had already decided how it would feel — low moods, sluggish mornings, dropped productivity. Layers of clothing made me feel bulky and lethargic. The days felt shorter not just outside, but inside me.

And the worst part?

Winter hadn’t even arrived yet.

I was already primed for the worst.

The Book That Made Me Pause

Then I stumbled upon How to Winter.

The title itself felt like an answer to a question I didn’t know I was allowed to ask: What if winter isn’t the problem — but my mindset is?

As I flipped through its pages, I found not just research and philosophy, but companionship. It felt like sitting across from someone who understood my seasonal resistance — and gently challenged it.

The book doesn’t romanticize winter blindly. Instead, it invites us to examine our assumptions about it.

Because winter mindset is a thing.

We carry pre-conceived notions about the season — that it is limiting, depressing, unproductive. And like many beliefs, they become self-fulfilling. I picked up this book knowing it might make me uncomfortable.

It did.

But in that discomfort, I began to see how much of my winter experience was shaped long before the temperature dropped.

The Structure of the Book (And Why It Works)

The book unfolds in three thoughtful parts:

1. Preparing for Winter

How we transition into the season matters. Rituals, anticipation, and framing shape the experience before it begins.

2. Engaging with Winter

Instead of enduring it, how can we participate in it? Celebrate it? Make it meaningful?

3. Challenging Limiting Beliefs

This is the psychological heart of the book — understanding mindset as a filter through which we perceive reality, and consciously reshaping that filter.

It works both as a seasonal guide and as a study of human psychology.

My Key Takeaways

1. Welcome the Change — Don’t Resist It

Look at the shift in weather with openness and curiosity.

Winter can become a practice in presence. There is enchantment alongside discomfort — if we are willing to pay attention.

2. Create a Winter Anticipation List

Instead of bracing for impact, build anticipation.

Make a winter checklist or vision board:

• Hot soups and slow cooking

• Cozy reading evenings

• Ice skating or long foggy walks

• Scented candles and warm lighting

Give your brain something to look forward to.

3. Mark the Transition

When the clocks change, make it ceremonial.

Schedule:

• The first candlelit dinner

• A movie night

• Starting a new book

• Rearranging your space for warmth

  
  

When winter feels intentional, it feels less imposed.

4. Prepare Your Space Physically

Choose one tangible action:

• Bring out soft blankets

• Add warm lighting

• Buy your favorite winter tea

• Create a cozy corner

  
  

Small physical cues signal psychological readiness.

5. Prioritize Rest (Without Guilt)

Winter invites slower rhythms.

Say no to unnecessary commitments.

Lean into sleep.

Reframe coziness as restoration — not laziness.

6. Pick a Slow Hobby

Long nights are an invitation.

Choose one indoor hobby:

• Baking

• Sewing

• Puzzles

• Watercolor

• Bread-making

• Playing music

Instead of fighting the season’s pace, sync with it.

7. Make Your Own Seasonal Calendar

Divide winter into mini-seasons:

• Early winter

• Deep winter

• Late winter

Or even micro-seasons:

• “First hot chocolate” week

• “Holiday prep” week

• “Grandma’s birthday” week

When you break it down, winter feels dynamic — not endless.

8. Get Outside (Especially When You Don’t Feel Like It)

The belief that winter limits us is often what limits us.

If we remain cooped up, our mood drops — no matter how hygge our interiors are.

A short walk. Cold air on your face. Grey skies.

Participation changes perception.

9. Mindset Is a Filter

Mindset is the lens through which we interpret reality.

It doesn’t magically fix circumstances. If you can’t afford heating, mindset alone won’t solve that. But it can shift your experience within the reality available to you.

Winter mindset won’t shovel your driveway. But it can make shoveling less miserable.

Instead of assuming winter is a time to hide and wallow, what if it’s a time to revel and restore?

Part of embracing winter is loving something fleeting. Paying attention while it’s here.

Letting it go when it leaves. And learning that lesson again and again.

10. Work With the Darkness

Darkness will fall whether we wish it to or not.

Learning to work with it — rather than fight it — becomes a micropractice in resilience.

As photographer Cecilia Blomdahl, who lives through months of polar night in Svalbard, says:

“It’s going to be there no matter what, so try to find the magic in it.”

The Deeper Lesson

Rethinking winter becomes practice for rethinking life.

When we look at freezing rain and think, “I could never love that,” and then slowly learn to enjoy a drizzly walk — we start questioning other fixed assumptions too.

What else have we decided we cannot love?

What else have we pre-judged as unbearable?

Winter becomes rehearsal.

For resilience.

For presence.

For reimagining what could be.

Closing Reflection

Winter hasn’t changed.

But my relationship to it has.

And perhaps that’s the quiet power of this book — it doesn’t try to eliminate discomfort. It teaches us how to meet it differently.

Maybe winter was never meant to be conquered.

Maybe it was meant to be learned.

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