Some folks enjoy the wintertime, but I am not one of those people.

I dread the shorter days and longer nights. I despise cold bathroom floors, freezing toilet seats, and the need to wear a bunch of layers just to walk to the mailbox. And I don’t like the fact that I usually can’t shake the sniffles. In the wintertime, my skin is always dry. And don’t talk to me about driving in snow or paying exorbitant prices for heating oil!

Science tells me I’m not alone. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that occurs in winter, when daylight hours are shorter, and our circadian rhythms are disrupted. It’s a real, biological thing. And it is a reason why so many snowbirds opt to spend their winters in Florida.

In the Cocoon

But rather than dread the winter, we should use it as a time to better ourselves. We can set personal development goals, and then spend the next 4 months working on them. There are things we can do to get healthier, smarter, and more well-rounded. Furthermore, we can get more organized. Or we can help someone less fortunate. And on top of all that, we can move our own, personal needle in the right direction.

The truth is, with a little planning and some consistent effort, we can all look forward to April 1^st as the day we emerge from our cocoons as beautiful new butterflies, fluttering our way into the brightness and warmth of springtime.

Here are a few ideas designed to help you utilize these winter months in the most productive way possible.

Set Health and Fitness Goals

Athletes have always known that the key to a successful season is to work hard in the off-season. And this same philosophy can apply to all of us. While most of us are far from being competitive athletes at this point in our lives, the goals we set for ourselves can be completely relative to our own unique situations.

Maybe your goal is to eat better, move your body more, and lose 5 pounds. Or perhaps you’d like to reduce your cholesterol or blood sugar level. Younger readers might want to double the number of push-ups and pull-ups they can do, or maybe even use the next 4 months to increase their treadmill walking or running mileage.

The specifics are up to you, but setting a realistic wintertime health and fitness goal is a worthy exercise. As always, consult your doctor before embarking on any new or different fitness program.

Get Organized

Time spent indoors between now and April 1^st is an awesome time to work on decluttering your surroundings and organizing your life. Did you know that getting organized can reduce stress and lower your cortisol levels? In addition, it can help you to sleep more soundly, eat healthier, increase productivity, and even improve relationships.

Why not spend a few minutes assessing your living situation and create a written list of things in your life you’d like to organize differently?  Apply some dates to each of those things and make it a point to work toward those deadlines. By the time spring rolls around you’ll feel like a new person!

Learn a New Hobby or Skill

It is well documented that continuous learning is one of the keys to maintaining our mental faculties as we age, and to longevity in general. The next few months provide a perfect situation for us to expand our horizons and learn something new.

For you, this could mean trying some new recipes or perfecting a certain culinary discipline. Maybe you’ve always wanted to try your hand at sketching or painting. Is there a musical instrument that always intrigued you? Or maybe you want to learn a new language?

The fact is that you’re never too old to learn something new.  The very act of trying can provide measurable benefits. You know, the internet is chock full of advice on almost anything, so there’s no excuse not to pick something and give it a whirl. You might surprise yourself!

Broaden your Literary Horizons

How well-read are you? Is there a particular literary discipline you’ve always wanted to dive into? The next 4 months offer a perfect time to do that.

For those who might not have spent too much of their lives with their nose in a book, I suggest you challenge yourself to do more of that now. Reading is so good for our brains as we age that we owe it to ourselves to devote more time to it.

If this has piqued your interest, I’ve got a wintertime reading challenge for you. To celebrate its 125^th anniversary, The New York Times recently asked its readers to vote on the best books published over the past 125 years, and they’ve listed the results on their website.

These results are broken into categories such as Science Fiction, Non-Fiction, Horror, Cooking, Self-Help and more. The top five recommendations overall are as follows:

• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
• 1984 by George Orwell
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• Beloved by Toni Morrison

Why not resign yourself to reading all five of these books this winter? I guarantee that, by doing so, you’ll feel a certain sense of accomplishment and may even grow into a better person. It’s never too late to broaden one’s perspective. And this challenge might just help do that for you.

Give to Others

There’s a growing body of research that links altruistic endeavors to better quality of life, including greater self-esteem, lower risk of depression, better physical health, and increased longevity.  This winter, consider getting involved with an organization that helps others.

This could be a church group, a local charitable organization, or maybe even a large national endeavor. You could give of your time, your expertise, or maybe even your finances, but the important thing is that you give something. What better way to spend 4 months that many folks otherwise waste?

 

Contributed by:

Ellen Donovan is an RN Senior Care Consultant and President of One Life Consulting.  One Life Consulting is a boutique consulting firm that helps older adults and their families navigate the many challenges associated with late-life care.

This includes aging in place, facility selection and placement, emergency and crisis management, patient advocacy, and proactive planning.  She has devoted her entire nursing career to providing the best outcomes for older adults. And now she brings this expertise to the senior care community in a new and unique way.

In addition, Ellen publishes a free monthly email newsletter, Sustenance. This publication is devoted entirely to self-care, something she believes applies to everyone, regardless of age or life situation.

Ellen publishes a variety of interesting and useful content on social media, and you can follow her on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

 

 

Friends Life Care posts on the eMeetinghouse blog. to provide a forum for information about aging in place, health and wellness, and long-term care.  As a mission-driven Quaker nonprofit, Friends Life Care is committed to helping seniors and baby boomers — with a focus on Friends Life Care members — to thrive independently at home as they age.  Do you have questions about becoming a member?  You can learn more from one of our Plan Counselors so feel free to contact us today.