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The Ultimate Blog Challenge: Winter Blues Edition

1/1/2018

14 Comments

 
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For 365 days, you get to write a new story!! Which one do you want your life to tell this year? I hope that today, you can sense the possibilities and feel the power of the intentions you set.

If you haven't set your intentions yet or said goodbye fully to 2017, click here for a letting go ritual that will help you do both.

So we begin a brand new year!

But some of us are still surviving winter. If you regularly suffer from winter blues, seasonal depression, seasonal anxiety or seasonal affective disorder, stay tuned this month because I'll be writing for you.

I have experienced some degree of winter blues or seasonal affective disorder for as long as I can remember, but certainly at least since college when I remember being the most depressed I ever had been during the winter & then, feeling a cloud lift, for no particular reason at all, while I was walking across the courtyard to class one afternoon in May.

A few years later, a friend of mine from grad school read an article about seasonal affective disorder & passed it on to me.  It helped me understand what I was going through at the time, but years went by before I looked back on all the previous years and began to rewrite my memories of them in light of this new information.

Decades have passed, and after thinking I had tried everything, I had long surrendered to living well for 6 months of the year and hibernating for the other half. Finally, something happened that gave me hope & I intend to pass that hope onto you, and anyone else who needs it.

"Studies have shown that as sunlight lessens, so to do our levels of serotonin, yet Denmark – a small sub-arctic country where the sun often sets before 4pm – is one of the world’s top three happiest countries. So could the arcane concept be a contributing factor to the country’s happiness?

'Hygge is definitely important in fighting the winter blues. Candlelight is such an integral part. The winters can be long and dark so to fight that we use hygge and millions and millions of candles that go with that atmosphere. It helps to brighten things up and make the most of those dark nights,'” says Lind Gustavussen. ~ Quote Source

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When I found out that the happiest people in the world have a name for what keeps them sane through long, cold, dark winters & that I could learn all about it, I felt hope that it might work for me. Maybe I could hygge winter & not lose six months of my life anymore.

It is a perfect match for the kind of experience I want to have in life anyway! But until I connected it to my own winter experience, I didn't understand how it could help.

Now that I do, I want to devote a month to sharing it with you during the January edition of The Ultimate Blog Challenge. Waving enthusiastically at my UBC blog buddies. :)

You can also read more about using hygge to conquer winter blues it in my new book, The Happy Winter Guide.

See you tomorrow!

Love, Jeanine

14 Comments
Martha link
1/1/2018 05:33:57 pm

Jumping up and down waving back to you my friend! Looking forward to another great challenge month and see what you have in store.

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Jeanine Byers link
1/1/2018 08:48:48 pm

Hi Martha! Thanks!! I am looking forward to connecting with you, too, this month.

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Elisa link
1/1/2018 06:39:04 pm

I'm wondering if I suffer from the same thing. I'll be interested in what you have to say on this topic. Visiting from UBC

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Jeanine Byers link
1/1/2018 08:51:23 pm

Oh, Elisa, I hope my blog posts will help. A lot will be about how hygge can help but these first few (this week, I'd say) will go into detail about what winter blues and seasonal affective disorder are.

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Brenda Marie link
1/1/2018 09:15:31 pm

Love your blog. Happy New Year.

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Jeanine Byers link
1/1/2018 09:41:18 pm

Thank you, Brenda! Happy New Year to you, too!! :)

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Alice Gerard link
1/1/2018 11:03:41 pm

It's great to be back with the UBC and to see your blog posts! I have seasonal affective disorder, too, and, this year, for a variety of reasons, it's been more intensive than usual. I'm looking forward to following your blog this month and with chatting with you. Have a great day.

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Jeanine Byers link
1/2/2018 12:08:15 am

Alice, I hope you will find this month's posts helpful. With my own SAD symptoms, I kinda shot myself in the foot for a long time. I gave up because I could not find enough solutions to completely get rid of the symptoms. But, even some improvement is better than none at all and finally, that sunk in enough to help me gear up to get back in the fight. And that helped. Not perfectly, but so much better. And this year, I made even more changes and last night, had the best NYE I have had in a long time! Glad to see you again for another challenge. :)

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Rachel Lavern link
1/1/2018 11:22:02 pm

Happy New Year!

I have seasonal affective disorder and I work really hard to brighten things up after 5:00 The only good thing about winter for me has always been skiing (good thing that I love it so much)!

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Jeanine Byers link
1/2/2018 12:13:09 am

Hi Rachel! I have fairy lights that I often turn on after 5pm, and all the lamps go on, but I have noticed that I can't keep the fairy lights on too late or it keeps me up at night. I have been thinking for a minute or two about what I could say is "the only good thing about winter" for me. Soups? I do enjoy them a lot more during the winter, so maybe? But that would be about it, LOL!

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Vidya Tiru link
1/2/2018 12:22:29 am

Waving to you too right back and great to get back in touch with all UBCers.. and this time hoping I will stay in touch after and in between UBCs

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Jeanine Byers link
1/2/2018 12:24:58 am

Good to see you again! :)

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Daniela Pesconi-Arthur link
1/3/2018 08:12:58 am

Hi Jeanine!

First of all, what a gorgeous website! <3 It's so soothing to the eyes, and if looks so cozy that I just want to sit by that fire and read a book too! :)

I suffered from winter blues for two consecutive winters when I moved from Brazil to Wales in the UK. The lack of sunny days, and the shorter days/longer nights made me sad and sluggish.

I'm much more used to it now, and even welcome the longer nights, as now I know what I can do to enjoy them. Sitting by the fire with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate or cappuccino. Playing a board game, doing a jigsaw puzzle or just talking to my husband.

I have also grown to like those crisp and sunny winter days, and they are perfect to go for walks! :)

Have a wonderful 2018!

Dani x



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Jeanine Byers link
1/3/2018 04:41:38 pm

Thanks, Dani! And that's wonderful that it's better for you now!! I love all your winter ideas. Hope you have a wonderful 2018, too.

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    Hi, I'm Jeanine

    Author, hygge lifestyle blogger & connoisseur of delight writing about how to create a hygge lifestyle, with hearthcraft, comfy capsule wardrobe tips and cozy home decorating ideas. More here.
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