It’s that time of year where everyone is seasonally depressed (and talking about it). The sun starts setting before you’re even hungry for an afternoon snack and it’s too cold to waste away in the park. I agree that having to leave the office far past sundown is perverted, but gloom is actually good if you just give it a chance. Like how did Kate Bush end up back at the top of the charts and we’re all still saying dreadful things about gray skies (Wuthering Heights and all that)? You can lay in bed and read a book, or go on a walk and feel your face get cold, louse around a coffee shop, get a drink in a hotel lobby. Lean into it and think about yourself as a woman who lives near a windy cliff (non-suicidally)—see if you are suited to brooding or Caspar David Friedrich-type tranquility. There is also something so romantic about trotting around in the cold with someone and then de-bundling together, though, in general I’m a proponent of extreme weather dating in either direction, i.e., holding hands and slipping in the snow, sweating from your face on the subway platform.
Most of the time, when I’m mad about something, I’ll think back on it months later and be like “wait why did I even care about that?” We should collectively all try that with Winter. The air smells so fucking good. Like where is that mystery campfire coming from?? I feel like every time I step outside and take a breath, I level up. I get that you think you don’t like the cold. It took me a while to understand that “acquired taste” means a taste that I can STILL acquire. Now when I don’t like food, I just eat it until I do. This January, when your unadjustable New York apartment heat is cranked so high that you can smell the lead paint melting off the walls, take a step outside onto your stoop for a breath of that crispy ass chimney-scented air, and remember DBG sent you there.
having a winter activity to look forward to like skiing has done tremendous good to my livelihood in the winter. But this was, and continues to be however financially and logistically inaccessible for a lot of people. The default way through it is through collective communal gathering and bathe in fatigue. While it’s nurturing, how can you get the jitters out living in a city when the weather can be so alienating ?
every year I dread this season but wind up finding joy and feeling energized by embracing the snow and cold. A few years ago I visited Lake Placid NY, a town that revolves around winter sports (and still has these amazing relics standing from the 1980 Winter Olympics). skiing, ice skating, sledding, hiking in the snow, or layering up and going on walks help get through the shorter and darker days. It’s kind of amazing that rain turns into layers and layers of pure white, dampening sound and temporarily covering all the intricacies of the world. It’s so quiet out there. And when you come back inside you appreciate your warm lil corner of the world even more.
This will fix you, I promise. But actually, it’s something I have to do for American Style all the time and I think it keeps your heart and mind elasticated.
This changed my life. It makes you feel less like you’ve washed up on the shores of God knows where. Your own slippers and robe far away from home bring comfort and a little glamour — suddenly your suitcase is no longer a plastic-shelled roller bag but a trunk carrying the contents of your life. Complete with an eye mask (as decorative or functional as you need) and whatever knocks you out at night.