10 WINTER DEPRESSION TIPS | Ways To Beat Seasonal Affective Disorder!

Hello dearies! Do you ever feel blue during the wintertime? I’ve never been officially diagnosed with “Seasonal Affective Disorder“ but it wasn’t hard to figure out that I was severely S.A.D. that first cold dark winter I lived in Sweden. Let me back up a little big, as I’m going to open up about a very personal journey for me in hopes of helping others who also struggle. I promise that winter won’t last forever and you aren’t crazy or alone in how you’re feeling; here’s some of my story.

I lived in sunny Southern California for 25 years until I met Jonas, my Swedish prince charming, and he whisked me away to the land of the northern lights. I had always dreamed of experiencing a White Christmas and Sweden did not disappoint! In fact, I even got a white Valentine’s day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter… you get the picture? The winter we moved to Sweden turned out to be the coldest longest one they had in 40 years, and it did a number on my mental health…

There were days the snow just never stopped coming down and I felt swirling in a snow globe of hopelessness. Even though growing up in CA I wasn’t much of a sun lover, I found myself longing for the tiniest bit of sunshine and went into a deep depression. To make things harder, my husband started working a night job and I would end up on his schedule and we would have to sleep through what little daylight there even was. I started having panic attacks when I felt like all the layers and scarves I had to wear were chocking me. Sometimes I still have nightmares of a blizzard strangling the life out of me and I think that goes to show how truly and deeply the darkness was affected my mental health.

I wish someone had prepared me for how mentally hard it would be for me to go through those winters in Scandinavia, and it was only after the first 3 winters there that I finally felt like I learned (through a lot of trial and error) how to cope with it better without losing my mind. So here are my 10 TIPS FOR FIGHTING WINTER DEPRESSION! *Please take into account that everyone is different and things work differently for everyone. Most of all, always keep in mind that there are loads of resources and professionals that can help you! But this is what I learned from my experience that I hope can help and things I continually have to remind myself of every time I start to feel S.A.D.

1. LOOK TO THE SOLSTICE: “Midwinter“, the winter solstice is the shortest day of the year. I would find myself even more excited to hit that December 21/22 mark than Christmas itself for it meant that soon the days would gradually grow longer. Every day, whether there was sunshine or not, you could feel the light outweighing the dark and I came to appreciate that gradual progression of hope very much.
2. WAKE UP EARLY: It was so easy to want to sleep forever when everything seemed so bleak. After a few years of Jonas working nights, I couldn’t bear the thought of facing another winter sleeping through all the day light. One day a light bulb went off in my head, why don’t we flip our sleeping schedule?! So we ended up staying awake after he came home from work and going to bed when it got dark around 2-3pm. It was like we flipped our whole perspective that way, and we even got to be the first people at lunch buffets (which was really our dinnertime). Depending on your situation, think about how you can rearrange things in your schedule so you can get the most of the daylight!
3. GET OUTSIDE: I tried skiing and it was definitely not for me so I found comfort in taking walks or doing exercise videos inside, just something to get my body moving instead of loafing around. This is still probably the hardest thing for me to make myself do, but I always feel better once I do. Why not build an ice lantern?
4. INVEST IN WINTER CLOTHING: I had a puffy coat that I HATED and made me never want to go outside, but we saved up and I got a warm and stylish coat and boots that fit my personality and actually made me look forward to going outside in them. (I’ll have a blog post going more into this subject soon!)
5. LIGHT THERAPY: In Sweden there’s places you can go to that are almost like tanning beds that would give you sun therapy. Light boxes can also be used; while I never ended up using these I DID start taking Vitamin D supplements which made a world of difference. A few drops of liquid sunshine each day is so important during the dark months when you can’t get the resources you need from the sunlight. Of course, please talk to a doctor about how much of the supplements to take!
6. CREATE A HYGGE HOME: Candles, fairy lights, soft blankets, warm drinks, and an open fireplace all play into the Nordic concept of “hygge“ having a cozy space to relax in and enjoy the slow pace of mindful winter time. Enjoy health foods and drinks that warm your soul.
7. STAY SOCIAL: When I felt most depressed was when I crawled deepest into my shell. Sometimes it took all the mental energy I had to reach out to a friend in California or write a letter to a pen pal. I wasn’t very open about my depression in the beginning, I felt it was something to be ashamed of or that I could “get over it” but the truth was that by NOT talking about it no one knew I was struggling. By opening up on social media, I realized so many others also struggled and I wasn’t alone!
8. GET A HOBBY: I remember going to a medieval faire in the summer in Sweden and as I was admiring some handmade garments the woman went on to tell me how her and her friends work on these pieces all winter long. I realized that having something to work on and look forward to helps immensely when you’re stuck indoors. I took up making flower crowns and blogging in fact!
9. START A SERIES: What better time of year is there to finally crack open that book you’ve been meaning to read? Starting to read a series like Harry Potter or even a TV show like “Once Upon a Time” that you can look forward to helped me and Jonas so much; if even to get lost in a fantasy world for a bit.
10. PLAN ADVENTURES: While it was very hard for me to find things to do in the winter time, I always felt so much more like myself when going out for a drive to a castle covered in snow or wandering the streets of an old town. It would give me a fun reason to get out of my pajamas and put on makeup; go out take some photos and make some memories. Or if you can swing it, take a trip to somewhere warm OR lean into the winter even more and take a trip to the mountains. Planning trips gave me something to look forward to and helped me learn more about the new unfamiliar land I was living in.

This is the first in a series about my experiences while living abroad that I’ve been wanting to do for SO long and I finally feel in the right place to share them. I’m not trying to point out only the negative side of things, but it’s definitely something that changed me forever and opened my eyes and changed my world view in the best possible ways. But it was also some of the most challenging things I’ve experienced to live in another country where I don’t know the language and am so far away from what I was once familiar with. I wouldn’t trade these experiences, for they make me the stronger person I am today, but I also want to open up about certain aspects in hopes of helping others who may feel alone like I did. I’d love to hear what sort of topics you hope to explore with me. Sending lots of love and light!

Bye For Now,
Lindsay Dianne

P.S. I would love to hear your tips for getting through wintertime and if you’d like to read more mental health blog posts, click HERE! Also, you can chat with me more about it on this live stream on our YouTube channel: