Embracing and enjoying the winter atmosphere - Juniper's best tips
Winter in Sweden means short days, cold air and dark evenings, and it is easy to feel your mood and your energy drop along with the temperature. Rather than let the season simply happen to me, here are the things that actually help me through it.
Coffee, a book, and nowhere to be yet.
None of this is complicated. It's five small habits, repeated, that make the difference between white-knuckling through winter and actually looking forward to it.
Romanticise the everyday
Sit by the fire wrapped in something heavier than a summer throw. Play the record you love. Cook the meal you actually want, not the quick one. None of it needs to be a big occasion. The small moments are usually the ones that count.
Move your body, especially in daylight
It's tempting to skip it when it's dark and cold, but even ten minutes outside, cold air on your face, while the sun is up does more for mood than almost anything else on this list.
Light in the darkness
Few things change a room as fast as a lit candle. We light Mont Fort most evenings once the sun's down, mostly for the way the room feels rather than the scent, though that helps too.
The small moments are usually the ones that count.
Evening settling in, robe on, kettle going.
Take care of yourself
Sheets in a heavier weight than summer, a robe you actually sink into, a bath with nowhere to be afterwards. None of it needs to be complicated. Winter is a good excuse to do the small things that make mornings and evenings easier.
Make the home itself feel like the answer
A blanket within reach, a lamp instead of the overhead light, wool or sheepskin instead of bare floor. The goal isn't a finished, styled room. It's one you actually want to be in when it's dark outside by four.
That's what gets me through a Swedish winter, more or less.
Mathilda
The goal isn't a finished, styled room. It's one you actually want to be in when it's dark outside by four.