Coping with the Winter Blues

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

It was negative 15 (-15 or -9 C) degrees here in my neck of Northwest Pennsylvania last weekend. Currently, as I am beginning this post, it is 6, gray and snowy. It looks like it is going to be this cold for next couple of weeks. Many of my clients are already showing signs of seasonal depression and our country just had a major storm last weekend.

There is another kind of ICE that is infecting our conscious this week and it too has been dragging many of my clients down.

In this post, I want to look at how we can cultivate resiliency when things seem bleak.

Coping with the Winter Blues

During the winter months, many people experience feelings of sadness or low energy, often referred to as the “winter blues.” These feelings can be brought on by shorter days, colder weather, and less exposure to sunlight. It is important to recognize these changes in mood and take steps to manage them.

One effective way to cope with the winter blues is to maintain a consistent daily routine. Keeping regular sleep and wake times, eating nutritious meals, and staying physically active can all contribute to a sense of stability and well-being. Staying connected with friends and family, even if only virtually, also helps combat feelings of isolation during this season.

Spending time outdoors during daylight hours, even when it is cold, can make a significant difference. Natural light exposure supports mood and energy levels. Additionally, finding enjoyable hobbies or activities to focus on can provide a positive distraction and help lift spirits. I just bought my wife and I a pair of snowshoes.

By taking these simple steps, it is possible to manage the winter blues and maintain a healthy outlook until warmer, sunnier days return.

Jesus’ Response to the Romans

I was reading from Mark 3:22-30 this morning in my lectio and it made me think of the narrative around Renee Good and Alex Pretti’s presence at the protests. Some said that they deserved it, that they should have just minded their own business. Our own dictator’s regime said that Pretti should not have a gun at a protest.  This kinda sounds like the crowd saying that Jesus was possessed by a devil in Mark.

Jesus was always stirring things up with the Romans. I think it is fair to say he did not think highly of them. His actions and teachings often challenged the status quo and confronted the power structures that the Romans imposed. Instead of accepting injustices or remaining silent, Jesus consistently called out hypocrisy and advocated for compassion, dignity, and justice. He associated with those marginalized and oppressed under Roman rule, showing solidarity with people whom society had seemingly written off. This resistance wasn’t always direct confrontation, but rather, it was through radical love, truth-telling, and a refusal to endorse the values of domination and violence that characterized much of Roman governance. Leaning into his Jewish heritage, he pushes for a collective movement that we all can learn from and model after today.

In Mark’s Gospel, when religious leaders accused him of being possessed, Jesus did not respond with anger or retreat; instead, he used wisdom and parables to turn their accusations into lessons about unity, forgiveness, and the power of good over evil. His willingness to stand firm, even when misunderstood or threatened, is a model for cultivating resiliency in the face of adversity. Just as Jesus did not let the negativity or aggression of the Romans dictate his actions or his message, we too can find strength in our values and in supporting one another through difficult times.

Cultivating Resiliency when Things Seem Bleak

I’ll be honest, I have had to block a lot of info in my Facebook and Instagram feeds over the last week. The most recent shooting in Minneapolis really brought back 9/11 vibes with all the graphic footage of the day’s events. Last weekend was especially difficult because it is so cold outside and normally, I would be up for a challenge and run in the cold, but much like other experiences with long COVID, running in the cold is no longer a enjoyable challenge. So, instead, I spent 12 hours working on training for work. I too am tired of the cold. Finding ways to adapt when our usual coping strategies aren’t available can be tough.

In my work training last week, one of the sections I was working through looked at mindfulness. One of many things I teach my clients to do when working with mindfulness is teaching them to focus on what is in our control. While the loudest voice right now is what is being portrayed in our news feeds, there is a lot of other things going on. There is peace when you start to look for it and when you begin to cultivate it. This cold, blustery weather will be gone before we know it and we will all be complaining of the 90 degrees far too soon. We cannot control what we see and experience, but we control how we see it. By not leaning into the shock and awe and the sensationalizing of it, our input becomes a little more static.

When we engage in the mindful exercise RAIN, we can learn to focus on the present and cope with uncomfortable thoughts and emotions. Doing so helps us cultivate compassion in ourselves and for the moment and it allows us to acknowledge and accept feelings of worry, frustration, fear and normal human responses to stress.

Finally, we must be still and know that God is. We must recognize and know that God is not abandoning us and walks with us in our stress. I trust things will work out, they historically have righted themselves.