It's 11.30 on a Sunday night and I have just delivered my latest book to my publisher. I have been working on this project all through the Christmas and New Year period, so I am ready for a little rest, before I need to start the next book.
Winter is meant to be a time of rest, of slowing down and hibernating, yet for many of us it is one of the busiest times of the year. If you work in retail for instance, or hospitality, or in one of the emergency services, then there is nothing slow and restful about this season at all. The darkness and the cold just make everything seem like more of an uphill struggle. That's why its more important than ever that you learn to keep winter in a cosy way whenever you can. Incorporating pockets of cosyness into your day, especially into your working day, can help you to get through the difficulty of working in the wintertime.
I touched on this last year in my Winter Blooming post, but it bears repeating, because every winter is different. Some years are snowy and bright, others are damp and dismal. Each one brings its own challenges and stress. Being a chionophile I love it, but I know a lot of you don't. People often take the time to turn their home into a cosy retreat during the darker months and this is especially important once all the Yuletide decorations have been packed away. Your home should be a haven, a warm shelter from the cold, a comforting space of peace and joy and relaxation.
But what about your car? How cosy and peaceful is that after you've spent twenty minutes clearing off the ice and you are making the journey into work? When I worked at the vets, my twelve hour day started quite early, so it was frequently cold and always dark in the wintertime. I tried to make my car a pleasant place to be - to give it some hyyge! Often I would eat my lunch in my car, because I just needed to get out of the workplace and enjoy some much needed silence and solitude. So I made sure my car had all that I needed, including a warm blanket to snuggle into. This helped to make the most of my very short lunch break, as it was the only break we got during such a long day.
Of course I would take a book to read, but I also had other bits and bobs tucked away in my car too. Little things that could make my lunch break as pleasurable and restorative as possible. For instance, the vet practice where I worked was right next door to a fish and chip shop. I know - lethal! Occasionally I would treat myself to chips for lunch, so I kept a small bottle of Henderson's Relish in my car, to splash onto my chips. I also had a little bottle of pumpkin spice syrup that I could add to the coffee I bought. These were simple little things, but they made the day a bit nicer and made my lunch break into more of a treat. Sometimes, my mother would come down and meet me and we would have a picnic lunch together, in her car or mine. She would pack up a picnic basket with goodies and we would catch up. This gave her a little outing in the middle of the day and provided a lovely break for me in the middle of my shift.
I also liked to keep a motivational book in my car, ready for those days when everything felt like too much and the job was getting to me. It's not easy working in an environment where you see animals being put to sleep on a daily basis, or where certain people are on personal power trips. Sometimes you need a mental health boost. I kept The Concise 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene in my car at all times during the years I worked at the vet practice. Not only did it give me a mental boost, it helped me to deal with difficult colleagues and served as a reminder that I was only passing through the vets anyway. It was just a student job. It wasn't my long term destiny. I was meant for a different path. Reading the nuggets of wisdom in Greene's book helped to keep me sane and focused on my true goals, rather than being side-tracked by the people who wanted me to train to be a vet nurse and RVN. That was never my ambition, so I didn't let them sway me in that direction.
I kept pampering items in my car too. A luxury hand cream, a bottle of perfume, a nice lip-gloss, a hair brush, a hair fragrance mist, a nail file. All these items were little things that I could use to take care of myself in the midst of a hard day's work. Roll-on essential oils that can be applied to pulse points are also a good idea - especially lavender for calm and serenity!
I also had a small notebook and pen in the glove compartment and I would use this as an emergency journal. If I was cross or out of sorts with someone (which happened a lot during the pandemic!) I would journal out my stress and irritability at lunchtime. This enabled me to go back into the office with a clear mind and a clean slate. I felt better, not because the situation had resolved itself, but because I had siphoned off the negative emotions and pinned them down on the page, instead of allowing them to circulate in my mind and ruminating on them.
All these little things helped to make me feel better about the fact that I was vastly underpaid, under-valued and extremely overworked, as so many people are these days. I am thankful that I now work from home as an author, but I still feel for my former colleagues and those who are in a similar situation. It's not easy to make a living these days. In some sectors, it's very, very hard and in my opinion, twelve hour days should be illegal!
I have spoken about the musical ritual I had when I got home each night in the Winter Blooming post, so I won't repeat that here, but I also had another ritual too. When I got home in the evenings, I would turn back my bed, light a scented candle and hop in the shower. After my shower, I would put on a long Victorian nightgown, make a cup of hot chocolate and settle down into bed to watch a period drama series. Each night would watch one or two episodes by candlelight, and I would make a point of telling myself;
"This is my real life, not the vets. That's just an interruption of my life. This, being at home, surrounded by lovely things and enjoying my own time. This is what really matters. This is where I belong."
It may sound silly, but re-affirming your life in this way and telling yourself that where you are currently, is not where you plan on ending up, is very powerful. Linking that affirmation to something tangible, such as my period drama ritual, means that you are reminding your subconscious of your goal each time you engage with that thing, be it a TV show or a hobby. Two seasons of The Spanish Princess and four seasons of Reign helped me to work in an emergency pet hospital throughout the pandemic and beyond, without losing my mind or the will to live! They also gave me something to look forward to at the end of the working day.
Not all of these ideas will fit into your life or your working routine, but I hope that there is something here that you can try to see if it works for you. Perhaps you can adapt some of them, or come up with other ways to make sure that your work this winter doesn't prevent you from enjoying the season. Yes it can be hard to endure, and for those of you who love the sunshine, going to and from work in the dark will take its toll on you. Hopefully, these suggestions will help to put a spark of joyfulness into the mundane.
As we head into the gloomiest months of the wintertime, with all the brightness of Yuletide behind us and spring a long way off, this is when the art of wintering truly begins. You need to take extra special care of yourself, particularly if you are going out to work in harsh and stressful environments.
For me, this means that I will be prolonging my Christmas until the end of this month! Because I worked through it again this year, I have decided that although the tree is down and the decorations are packed away, I am going to spend January watching festive films, burning my Christmas scented candles, reading snowy books and enjoying all the festive treats that I haven't consumed yet, such as chocolates, mulled wine and spiced gingerbread hearts.
It won't be long until I have to begin writing the next book, for the mid-February deadline. I also have to make preparations for university too. They have sent me the Required Reading list and so I have ordered all the text books and recommended reading from Blackwells, and I will need to start swotting again soon.
But for now, I plan on enjoying a New Year festive break of Christmassy films, books and foods that will prolong the Yuletide season that I have just missed out on, due to a tight January deadline. However you plan to spend the darkest months at the beginning of the year, remember that hyyge is your friend! And so am I.
Serene Blessings
Marie x
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