This is an iHeart podcast, guaranteed human.
Run a business and not thinking about podcasting?
Think again.
More Americans listen to podcasts than add supported streaming music from Spotify and Pandora.
And as the number one podcaster, iHeart's twice as large as the next two combined.
Learn how podcasting can help your business.
Call 844-844-iHeart.
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Good morning.
This is Laura.
Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to plan some winter adventures.
The post-holiday winter months can feel dark and cold.
But by planning in some winter-specific adventures, not only will you have things to look forward to, you will enjoy the season for its own sake rather than just counting days until spring.
So long-time listeners know that winter isn't exactly my favorite season of year.
I get cold easily, and the weather here in southeastern Pennsylvania is often dark and gloomy until about mid-March.
And yet I don't like the idea of wishing time away.
I am not alone in this.
Several years ago I wrote a piece for Fast Company called The Norwegian Secret to Enjoying a Long Winter, and it became one of their most shared articles of the year.
It seems a lot of us want to know how to appreciate this time, rather than simply endure it.
One of the ways it seems that people in northern Norway make the most of winter is is by enjoying the things you can only do in winter.
Cross-country skiing is certainly a huge thing there, and it makes sense.
Being outside is a known mood booster.
So is physical activity.
If you can figure out how to combine the two, especially in activities that require cold weather, you can start viewing January and February as exciting months rather than terrible ones.
The folks in northern Norway also appreciate the beauty of winter.
Sometimes this is a more challenging, demanding beauty than a June rose garden, but it is a beauty nonetheless.
So as we face down the next two and a half months until spring I mean at least for those of us in colder northern climates it might be worth figuring out how to plan some winter adventures that get us active or expose us to winter's beauty.
I know a lot of people love skiing.
I am not a skier.
But if you are or you have friends and family members who enjoy this, it can be a great winter activity.
Not all slopes are ridiculously pricey or difficult.
We have a lot of little ski mountains in the Poconos that are well not that steep, because the Poconos are not that high.
Little mountains like this could work as a day trip for people in this part of the world.
Even when I lived in the rather flat Midwest, I knew that there were at least a few small hills that became ski slopes for the winter.
Some of these small hills also offer tubing, which can be really fun.
You don't need to have any skiing skills to get into a tube and let gravity slide you down the mountain.
Speaking of sliding, if there is any snow in your part of the world, sledding is fun as an adult too.
Buy a cheap sled, find a hill, and enjoy swooshing down.
Play your cards right and you can be outside for maybe 30 minutes or so and then come home to warm and tasty beverages.
It's just a little adventure.
But I know that one of my most recent experiences of grinning ear to ear came while sliding down a snowy hill in my front yard.
Snowshoeing and cross-country skiing can work in places that have snow but don't have big hills.
And even if you don't have snow cover, as long as it is cold, a trip to an outdoor ice skating rink can be tons of fun too.
My family goes to the rink by the river in downtown Philadelphia and I always love swirling around the ice under the winter sky.
This is something you cannot do in warm weather, and I do genuinely look forward to it.
As for appreciating winter beauty, I always like looking at the sunrise and sunset.
The sunrise tends to happen at a time you might see it, given the shorter days.
And with bare trees, the colors look even more pronounced.
Fresh snow makes a winter wonderland.
But even if you don't have that, frost glistens, as does ice in ponds.
Going on a winter walk in a place with lots of evergreens or holly with its berries can make for some stunning scenery.
Of course, to have any adventure, which includes winter adventures, you need to plan ahead.
I recommend a weekly planning session late in the week, such as on a Friday, looking ahead to the next Monday to Sunday week.
You can then take a minute to look at the immediately upcoming weekend and tighten the plan you made a week prior based on the weather or new information.
This helps with getting tickets or reservations for places, but also with managing energy, which is really important in winter.
I know that I have never woken up on a winter Saturday morning and said, you know what?
I want to argue with my kids to get off their iPads, bundle them into my car, drive downtown and get them into rental skates.
I need to know I plan to do this ahead of time.
But then when I do have this as a plan and do it, I always have fun.
Winter adventures in particular often require overcoming a bit of inertia.
Your house is warm.
The world is not.
But soon you will be on the other side and have great memories to look back on.
So think about what winter adventures you could plan.
What would make you excited about the next few months, rather than just counting days to spring?
Winter is all about mindset.
And with the right mindset, it is possible to have a lot of fun.
In the meantime, this is Laura.
Thanks for listening.
And here's to making the most of our time.
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at laura at lauravandercam.com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeart Media.
For more podcasts from iHeart Media, please visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Have you ever listened to those true crime shows and found yourself with more questions than answers?
Who catfishes a city?
Is it even safe to snort human remains?
Is that the plot of Footloose?
I'm comedian Rory Scovel and I'm here to tell you Josh Dean and I have a new podcast that celebrates the amazing creativity of the world's dumbest criminals.
It's called Crimeless, a true crime comedy podcast.
Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm investigative journalist Melissa Jeltsin.
My new podcast What Happened in Nashville tells the story of an IVF clinic's catastrophic collapse and the patients who banded together in the chaos that followed.
It doesn't matter how much I fight.
Doesn't matter how much I cry over all of this.
It doesn't matter how much justice we get.
None of it's going to get me pregnant.
Listen to What Happened in Nashville on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
This is an iHeart Podcast.
Guaranteed human.