A couple of years ago, I stumbled across the Danish concept of hygge, which was summed up at the time as “convivial cosiness”. The winter blues have sometimes bitten me quite deeply, so around late October, when we’re facing four or five months of cold days and long, dark nights, it can be challenging – there have been years when the path to March has seemed a very steep mountain to climb.
I’d experimented with a few hygge-type things before, but delving deeper into the philosophy behind it helped me connect it all together, and think differently about my approach to the change in season. So the past two winters, I’ve tried to develop a way of using the principles of hygge to embrace winter, to enjoy it, and not to feel I have to fight it. I *think* it really helps. It certainly makes the winter more pleasurable.
