What to Do to avoid the winter blues?

Water color painting - no smell, easy cleanup - and painting spring flowers!

Eat. Particularly comfort foods like soup.

Try to find ways to escape. It finally paid off and this time I will be spending the whole month of January in south Florida.

Neat about the steady gig

OK. This is an obvious one. Reading. Something light and uplifting. Maybe a few suggestions. Specific titles.

January is for catching upon and getting ahead on sleep. I's a nice, easy, indoor activity that requires no special equipment..

Write thank you letters on Christmas presents?

Write whoops we forget you letters.....

OK um, cheery.
Yes plan summer holiday - good time of year to look at holiday cottage catalogues with all the lovely summer pictures and book somewhere.

Catch up writing overdue emails to friends.

Speaking as a gardener in a fairly temperate climate - I go out and do the odd bit of structural stuff - as in fixing gates and things and going "ooh look" at the odd spring bulb coming up. Good use of a mild or sunny (and colder) day.

Indoors - have spring bulbs in pots on window sills - hyacinth, daffodils and enjoy them coming up even sooner.

But above all, and at all times of year- read books. Might well pick books about living in a sunny country, but read books.

Isn't this kind of the professional version of asking someone to do your homework for you?

Pick that one thing you've been meaning to get to and get to it. This is the perfect time to make repairs or build bookcases.

Sat Nam! (Literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Reading, writing. Seconding that suggestion about writing thankyous for the gifts.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

If you're into scrapbooking it's a good time to get on that and begin organising/sticking in all the bits and pieces you've kept for the past few months.
Catching up on the movies/TV series that people have been recommending to you all year.
Have board game days/nights!
Work on writing.
Baking new recipes.

Around here we don't worry about the winter blues, but some of us get the summer blues (when it's too hot to go outside past 8am).

I read, crochet, go through my recipe books/box for cool meals. Next summer I plan to start on an appliqued quilt.

MM

Trying new recipes for things like soups and stews, baking bread, catching up on Netflix and movies I've missed, reading (obviously), writing (also obvious, since I'm here), yoga, meditation, tea with friends. I find winter to be a very introspective time in which I feel a natural impulse to insulate myself. Some people might find that isolating. I see it as recharging or cocooning, if you will. It gets very cold and dark and snowy where I live, which definitely contributes to that feeling.

Going out on a limb, here...

Write a book?

A nice evening fire in the fireplace, a comfy recliner, a ludicrously friendly big tomcat on the lap, a glass of Talisker or Laphroaig, and a good book. One of the best craft projects I can think of.

caw

I live in Florida, where I deal with the opposite of the winter blues. Call it the summer reds if you like.

We don't have the usual seasons. We have uncertain, wet, and hell.
Uncertain starts in October and ends sometime between April and May. Expect the weather to shift drastically during this period. And when I say drastically, it might go from 30f one day to 80f the next, only drop back to the 30s a couple days later. To mix things up, you might get the occasional hurricane as well.

Wet starts in January and ends in December. If it's not raining, just wait.

Hell starts in July and ends in October. It is a special mix of humidity and heat that makes me want to go to Disney World just so I can watch the northerners collapse from heatstroke. The only time you don't sweat during this period is when you are in the shower, and even then you are, you just can't tell.

During Hell is when the summer reds begin. The goal is to find activities that involve remaining directly under the AC vent at All Times.