Why we prefer certain seasons
on thriving in winter
Hi! I’m Katie, and I’m a cultural and social psychologist—but you can think of me as your BFF with a PhD. I live in the desert of Texas alongside the cacti, roadrunners, and horned lizards. If you’re looking to understand your inner landscape and the whirlwind of the world around you, I hope you find something of value here. Make sure to subscribe—and you won’t miss a beat! Thank you so much for being here.
I’ve come to realize I thrive in winter.
I love the hibernating.
The nesting.
The drawing within.
The darkness.
As an extroverted introvert, I deeply value the space winter creates.
The liminal that’s a natural byproduct of the dark.
When the sun goes down early, we’re given a pass to retreat from outside life early.
Each year, I wait for winter to show its face.
And, I revel in its arrival.
Burrowing in.
Cozying.
Resting.
Hygge-ing.
In fact, I’ll have you know that I’m a self-appointed expert on the concept of hygge.
They say if you’ve done something for 10,000 hours, you’ve reached expert status.
And, I’m certain that over my 40+ years, I have hygge-d my way into that 10,000 hour mark.
Hygge was made for me.
I was made for it.
It’s an artisanal life in action.
If you’re unfamiliar with the idea, I recommend picking up a copy of one of my most well-loved books, The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living.
But, I’ll give you a quick starter course in the concept of hygge and how it can be a vital part of building an artisanal life.
The director of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, Meik Wiking, has compiled all of his years of research in this tiny little, handheld book.1
His hope is to inspire others to incorporate more hygge into their lives in order to find more happiness.
So, what exactly is hygge?
This may just be my favorite part.
When describing hygge, Wiking quotes Winnie-the-Pooh:
“You don’t spell it, you feel it.”
Some have described hygge as “coziness of the soul”, “the absence of annoyance”, and even “cocoa by candlelight”.
Wiking says, “hygge is about an atmosphere and an experience”.
And, a big part of this involves creating a warm and inviting space in your home.
Our homes can be a simple and tangible starting place for building an artisanal life.
After all, your home isn’t just where you live.
It’s yours.
And, you can make it into whatever you want it to be.
In fact, focusing on our home environment and how it makes us feel is a practical way to start implementing this handcrafted approach to life.
Winter is the perfect time to get creating—that rare seasonal opportunity to turn inwards, dwell, nest, and well…craft.
While the darkness abounds, we spend a lot of time at home.
And, our homes are a blank canvas upon which we can paint our own artisanal vision.
Now, this may be something that society deems unimportant, a waste of time, or even overindulgent.
It may not be viewed as something worth fussing over.
After all, creating warmth and beauty in our homes is not productivity in the way our society traditionally celebrates productivity.
We have even been told in some of our circles that spending time, energy, and any money on our homes is superficial or selfish.
These stories were rampant in many of the Western Christian communities I’ve been a part of across my life.
In some spaces and places, the narrative is that we shouldn’t worry about our homes nor “fuss” over them.
And, I don’t know about you.
But, deep inside of me is an innate desire to make my home a comfortable, cozy, and pleasing space for myself and for others.
To make it warm.
To make it cozy.
To make it beautiful.
To infuse it with deep meaning.
I want to look around my home and it feel like my insides have been poured out and put on display.
Like every nook, cranny, and corner was curated by my own hands.
I’ve pushed back on this narrative.
Being concerned with our home and its appearance isn’t petty or insignificant.
Studies have shown that we spend 50% of our waking time at home.
That number, of course, rose in the wake of 2020.
And, for many of us, we continue to spend more of our waking time than ever at home.
Because we’re spending so much time there, why wouldn’t we want our homes to cultivate an environment of craft and care?
Even if the narrative moves beyond “the feel of our homes aren’t important”, fancy magazines, Instagram reels, and ikea adverts tell us our homes should look one way to be on-trend, tidy, or tamed.
I say, your home should be a reflection of you.
Winter is a lovely opportunity to press into that creative, artisanal desire to make something personal and beautiful out of our own lives—and our own nesting spaces.
And, guess what?
Once I dug into the psychology behind my innate need for warmth and beauty in my home environment, I discovered that psychological research supports this idea.
It’s vital to our well-being to have a cozy space in your home that feels nurturing and nourishing.
When I first discovered the concept of hygge, it reminded me of something I knew well and taught often in my college psychology courses.
Research has found that it’s not the major stressors in our lives—loss of a loved one, loss of a job—that bring us the most stress.
Instead, it’s the small, inevitable, everyday stressors that cause us the most problems—things like feeling like we don’t have enough time in the day or constantly misplacing needed items.
Researchers call these small but consistent stressors “daily hassles”.
They’ve found that these daily hassles cause the most negative symptoms in our lives—psychological symptoms, things like anxiety and depression—and even physical symptoms, like chronic headaches and chronic pain.
But, research has also found that the negative effects of these daily hassles can be canceled out by what researchers call “daily uplifts”.
Daily uplifts are small activities or experiences that can lift the spirit and outweigh the consequences of our daily hassles—things like talking with a close friend or a home environment that feels pleasing or soothing.
One of my favorite things to do after a long, demanding day is to put on soft clothes and curl up on the couch in a soft, warm blanket.
The fire crackling in the background.
A book in one hand and a delightful, hot something to sip in the other.
To some, it feels silly or even insignificant.
But, this simple activity helps me find balance after a day of demands and stress.
It’s a daily uplift.
It’s hygge.
It’s winter personified and put on.
Now, hygge isn’t fancy or fussy.
It doesn’t have to be expensive or elaborate.
It doesn’t have to look like a page out of Joanna Gaines’ latest book or that one TikTok influencer’s million-dollar home.
In fact, it should be simple and not stuffy.
The Danes call this warm and inviting space in your home a hyggekrog, which translates into “nook”.
Our artisanal life at home can fill as small a space as a nook to start—or grow as far-reaching as wall-to-wall.
*The following is a guided activity created exclusively for paid members to help you create a hyggekrog in your own home. If you’d like to gain access to hands-on activities and exercises that accompany psychologie articles, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Thank you!