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Enjoy the winter

How you can enjoy the winter more can take many different forms. Some of it is outdoors like learning a new winter sport. Or it could be indoors like catching up on things you've been wanting to do like read that pile of books gathering dust in the book case.

Sometimes, us humans like to do the equivalent of hibernating during the winter months. We still enjoy the winter, just from the opposite side of the scale. If so, then there are lots of things to do indoors.

Still, getting outdoors is great too with even a simple walk in a local park. I like to get bundled up and take my camera and go for a long walk - you never know what you might stumble across.

Here are some winter tips and strategies on how you can enjoy the winter more.

New sporting challenges:

  • Learn a new winter sport (or two!) like Cross-country skiing
  • Get involved in a winter team sport like Curling
  • Learn downhill skiing or snowboarding for the more adventurous
  • Try snowshoeing in a local conservation area.

New thinking challenges:

  • Enroll in an adult-education or university course over winter
  • Start that part-time business you've been mentally flirting with for some time now
  • Begin writing the novel you always wanted to start
  • Write that ebook for Amazon you've been keeping on the mental back burner
  • Teach yourself something that's on your bucket or "to do" list
  • Learn a foreign language for the country you always wanted to visit
  • Learn a new skill
  • Explore your family tree more.

New exercise challenges:

  • Take a Yoga or Tai Chi course at your local community centre or for profit studio
  • Stay healthy during the winter season by doing some indoor exercises using low-tech help like a skipping rope or an at home exercise DVD you can do in your living or family room.

New culinary delights to experience:

  • Indulge in making winter comfort foods like hearty rib-sticking soups and stews
  • Build your own library of winter comfort food recipes
  • Start a winter recipe exchange with your family and friends
  • Have a contest to find the best hot chocolate recipe among your friends and family or best winter "anything" recipe
  • Make some homemade warm apple cider.

New retail therapy initiatives:

  • Knit that new scarf you've been planning for the last few years (or decades!)
  • Buy a new winter ensemble (coat, hat and gloves) to celebrate winter with a new "look" (works for me!).

New favourite activities:

  • Relive some happy childhood memories by playing board or card games with your family and friends
  • Plan an indoor 'beach' party, getting your friends and family to wear some bright colourful 'summer' clothing over their winter clothes.

New aesthetically pleasing experiences:

  • Find a local event, show or exhibition
  • Visit an art show or exhibition a month
  • Find a live performance celebrating music, dance etc.
  • Spend a day at a local spa being pampered.

New winter experiences:

  • Find a winter event every weekend
  • Go to a major winter festival to celebrate even more
  • Go tobogganing for fun
  • Take brisk walks on sunny winter days (don't forget your camera!).

New giving experiences:

  • Join a volunteer association to help those that are house-bound during winter
  • Share a skill that can help others in some way
  • Shovel snow from an elderly neighbour's sidewalk.

New non-winter experiences:

  • Take a winter trip somewhere warm if you want to skip over part of winter altogether
  • Plan the trip anyway even if you can't make it this year, you'll have fun doing it and you'll be better prepared for when you can.

New home projects:

  • Catch up on your spring-cleaning in winter by doing some reorganization and decluttering of your cupboards and closets
  • Start a new indoor home project that you can finish within the winter months
  • Revisit that project you started in the last year (or before!) and finish it.

New technology projects:

  • How about digitizing all your old prints and negatives - part 1
  • Create different photo books to capture the different stages of your family as they were growing up. It's great keepsake for them - that's part 2. How about doing the same for your long time friends?

That's just the tip of the iceberg (sorry, bad pun!) but you get the idea. You'll be so busy embracing the winter life... before you know, the winter is gone!

What else can you add to the list for next year?

And lastly, just rinse and repeat as you like!


Return to Winter Smarts from Enjoy the winter

Return to Winter Living Advisor from Enjoy the winter