Hello, welcome to or welcome back to Trying Not To Care.
If you're listening in real time.
This episode's coming out a couple days before Thanksgiving, and I feel like after Thanksgiving that's when everyone goes into winter mode.
I'm already there.
If you listen to this podcast, if you follow me on social media, you already know that I am deep into romanticizing the holidays and romanticizing winter, even though technically, winter isn't until the end of December, which I don't understand.
But it is about to be winter.
And for a lot of us that can be quite terrifying, especially if you struggle with seasonal depression or you struggle with your mental health in general.
The days getting shorter and darker and colder can just be very difficult.
So today I want to give you some ideas on how you can romanticize your winter.
I think a lot of us try really hard to just survive the winter.
And I want to help you not only get through the winter, but look forward to it and embrace it and truly love your life.
So here are a few ways that you can romanticize the winter.
Let's get into it.
Up until a couple years ago, I would absolutely dread the time change.
It would make me so unbelievably anxious and sad knowing that it was going to get dark at like 430 5pm.
Even just the thought of it at the end of summer or early fall, knowing that was approaching, would make me sick to my stomach.
Especially if you're in school or you work a 9-5.
By the time you get out, it's dark, which is depressing.
Like you spent your entire day inside working and now you get out and it's pitch black, it's cold and you feel like your day's already over.
When I was in college, if you don't know, I went to UConn for three years.
And if you don't know anything about UConn, it is a huge campus.
So if you go to school there, you either have to walk or take the bus, because there's no parking on campus.
And during the winter, it was just unbearable.
It was so cold.
It was like a huge wind tunnel.
It would hit your face and it would hurt.
And the idea of getting out of class and either having to walk 30 minutes to my dorm or wait in the cold for 15 minutes for a bus to then go home and feel like my day's already over, made me sick.
I was genuinely so depressed.
Also, I was homesick, but I was just miserable and honestly angry.
The winter made me so bratty.
And the reason I was that way was because I was fighting it rather than embracing it.
Instead of getting so worked up that it gets darker earlier and it's colder out, embrace the fact that you're given the opportunity to slow down and rest.
Like, why would you want to be outside freezing your butt off?
Wouldn't you rather be snug as a bug in bed warm?
It's like being given two options where there's one very obvious, easy answer.
And you're like, I don't know.
Do I want to go outside without a coat and freeze my butt off?
Or do I want to go inside by the fireplace and drink hot cocoa?
This time of year is giving you the opportunity to take care of yourself, to recharge, to recover, to relax.
Embrace it.
One way to embrace it is by crafting your nighttime routine around it.
I like to call this my Scrooge nighttime routine.
Not because I'm bitter or I don't have any holiday spirit, but because I'm staying in and I'm not seeing anyone that I don't need to see and I'm keeping to myself.
Also, when I envision Scrooge, He's like hunched over with a little candlestick, wearing a robe or a nightgown, wobbling around the house.
That's me.
That is me during the winter or at least during the week during the winter.
For your Scrooge nighttime routine, you're going to have your dinner earlier.
In my opinion, 5.30, 6 p.m. is the perfect time for dinner.
During the winter, I really like comfort foods. warmer meals, maybe even a little heavier.
I love soups, stews, potatoes, pasta, lots of carbs, lots of bread.
And that in itself is something to look forward to.
It's like a big warm hug.
After you eat dinner, you're going to do things that you need to do.
That might be cleaning up, that might be throwing a load of laundry in the washer.
Making your to-do list for the next day.
But try to keep this to like 30 minutes, 45 minutes at most.
Then you're Go to bed.
You're just settling in for the night.
So taking a shower, taking a bath, doing your skincare, putting your PJs on, with the goal of being in bed by like 7 pm, 8 pm,
I genuinely look forward to this every single day.
This has become my favorite part of my day.
And that's the whole point of romanticizing your life.
Taking the small mundane things and giving more meaning to it.
Appreciating the little things.
Instead of being upset that the days are shorter, look at it as a way to have something to look forward to.
Get excited to get into your PJs and do a self-care night and light some candles, spray some room spray.
Read a book, watch a really cozy movie.
You can play video games.
You can plan your phone.
You can plan a glow up for the next year.
Just tune into the cozy feels and lean into resting instead of expecting yourself to always go, go, go and always be productive.
I know I say this all the time, but rest is productive.
The next thing that you can do to romanticize your winter is tapping into Little Women Winter.
Little Women is a novel that I unfortunately haven't read yet.
I've only seen the 2019 film.
But it's about these four sisters in the 19th century.
And it basically follows them through their youth into their adulthood.
And you watch each of the women grow into their own person, with their own experiences and hobbies and interests.
And it's just a very beautiful, powerful story.
But The movie itself is also incredibly beautiful.
It's very cozy, very warm.
There's these beautiful Christmas scenes where there's homemade decorations and the house is candlelit.
And that's what you want to tap into when you're having a Little Women winter.
Kind of like my Scrooge nighttime routine with Little Women.
Winter you want mood lighting candles everywhere.
In the kitchen while you're cooking in the bathroom, while you're showering in the bedroom, while you get ready for bed.
Something about candlelight is so aesthetically pleasing to me.
It's calming, but it adds a little more drama, adds a little something, something to whatever you're doing.
I'm more likely to enjoy, you know, sitting on the couch with the lights off and a candle flickering than a big light shining in my face.
Or like when I take a shower with candlelight, it feels very romantic.
I feel like I'm in a movie and I'm the main character.
I don't know if that makes sense, but I know that you know what I mean.
It's a feeling that, you can't really describe.
You're literally just taking a shower, but that's the point of romanticizing life.
You're doing something and making it seem more grand and appealing than it is.
Showering in candlelight is just a shower, but it feels more luxurious and feminine.
Another small detail like candlelight is writing handwritten letters.
That was a big part in Little Women.
All the sisters, their mother, their love interest.
They would handwrite letters to each other because it's based in like 1860, maybe a little after that, but that's how they would communicate.
Handwriting letters or honestly handwriting anything.
Writing all your thoughts down on paper instead of writing in your notes app helps you romanticize life because it slows everything down.
It feels more intentional.
It feels more meaningful and it makes the ordinary thoughts and the ordinary feelings feel more poetic.
The night before my best friend's wedding, I was writing her wedding card and It was right after her rehearsal dinner.
So I had a few glasses of wine and I'm sitting with the candlelight and I'm writing this letter.
And I literally felt like I was a soldier stuck at war, writing to my long distance love, just yearning for her.
Obviously, that's not what was happening, but that was the vibe that it was giving.
But that's how I feel whenever I sit down and I write my thoughts on paper, especially if I'm writing to someone else.
But Even when I'm writing in my journal in the morning sitting in my robe drinking my coffee, or I'm writing in my journal at night sitting in bed, it feels very romantic.
It feels like I'm in a movie scene.
When I write things down in my notes app, it's very quick.
I'm just trying to get it down and then go back to whatever I was doing.
Whereas when I have a pen and paper, even if it's writing a grocery list or writing my to-do list, it forces me to slow down and really think about what I want to write, which gives it more meaning.
I'm being more intentional.
I also think slowing down, like the women in Little Women, and spending time on your favorite hobbies and your favorite interests and your passion projects will help you romanticize winter.
Reading a really good book.
Maybe it's a book based in the wintertime or, if you haven't read Little Women, that would be a really good book to read.
Knitting and crocheting, I think, is a really good winter hobby, which I've given up on.
If you know.
You know I tried it like two weeks winters ago and I'm just the worst at it.
It honestly made me so mad.
It was not relaxing at all for me, so that's not my thing.
But when I think of crocheting, when I think of knitting, I think winter, playing the piano paintings drawing, even cooking and baking.
One of my favorite things to do during the winter time is bake, make you know breads muffins, brownies.
I genuinely look forward to it, especially when I'm baking for other people.
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And then the last thing that you can do for Little Women Winter is tap into your feminine side.
Spend more time with your girlfriends, with your sisters, with your mom.
Just have more women in your life.
That's a big theme in Little Women.
They really support each other and have a very strong feminine bond.
As for physical, I think using the wardrobe from the film to inspire how you dress can help you romanticize winter.
Even if it's just when you're at home.
I think a lot of us don't put a lot of effort into what we wear when we're at home, because we don't see anyone and we just want to be comfortable.
But Instead of wearing just a t-shirt and sweatpants to bed, you could throw on a nightgown or some really beautiful Christmas PJs.
Instead of just wearing your hair down to bed, try putting in a braid.
I also really like the idea of braiding your hair and putting bows in it.
I think bows are so pretty.
They're so pretty to wear during the holiday season.
But yeah, just again making little intentional tweaks to your life to add more detail and to add more meaning.
Which leads me into the third way that you can romanticize your winter.
And that is being more intentional with the details in your morning routine.
Waking up early or waking up earlier can be hard.
But adding things to make your morning more whimsical or more enjoyable makes it easier to get up.
And it might even excite you to go to bed.
Like I genuinely go to bed kicking my feet thinking about my morning coffee.
I go to bed dreaming of my morning coffee and my morning coffee in my cute Christmas mug or in my cute icon glasses from anthropology.
And we'll get into that a second.
But it's just those small little details that can make your morning so much more enjoyable.
One thing that I recently added to my morning routine was changing the alarm sound of my hatch clock.
The sound that I'm currently using, I think it's called snow day.
It sounds like Christmas bells or jingle bells.
Just very holiday-y.
I don't know.
It's very cute.
And it's not alarming.
You know how some clocks are literally triggering?
Like if I hear the alarm that I used in high school or at my old job, I get sick to my stomach.
But this alarm is actually pleasant and nice to wake up to.
It doesn't scare me.
It's very Christmassy.
It immediately puts me in a good mood.
And they have other holiday sounds.
They also have... a little women's sound, which I think is really cute.
Also side tangent.
I got an email the other day saying that I was eligible for a replacement for my hatch because apparently there was something wrong with it and they don't make that model anymore.
And at first I thought it was a scam because why would you want to send me a free hatch?
Why don't you want my money?
And nothing was really wrong with my hatch.
It glitches sometimes, but there's nothing really wrong with it.
So i thought it was a scam and i clicked on the form.
All i asked for was my name and address, so it wasn't asking for banking information.
So i just filled it out and they sent me a new one.
So i have a brand new restore 3 hatch alarm.
So if you have the restore hatch i think i got mine two christmases ago, so i don't know which model that is check your email to see if you got that email, because you could possibly get a free hatch alarm.
The next thing that I've been doing to romanticize my mornings is, when I get out of bed, I immediately throw on a robe.
I have so many robes, and the reason I have so many robes is there's this thrift store in Waterbury Connecticut, called Red, White and Blue.
I should gatekeep it because it's so good, but they always have brand new robes.
I don't know who's donating them or where they're getting them from.
They're always brand new.
They're so cute.
They're so fluffy.
They're never more than like $5.
So whenever I go, I buy another one.
But right when I get out of bed, I throw on a robe.
And the reason I do this is the same reason I light candles.
It just feels more luxurious, feels like you're at a five-star hotel.
It's cozy, it's warm, it's feminine, it's classy and it just makes getting up and going downstairs to.
You know, feed the dogs, let them out do our morning routine so much more enjoyable.
I currently don't have like a morning skincare regimen because for me i've realized the less i do to my skin, the better it looks.
But I do like the idea of taking a few moments to take care of yourself because again, you're slowing down.
You're more present.
You're not so focused on like, I need to go and do this thing.
I need to get these things done.
You're slowing down with yourself and taking some time to take care of you.
So if you do have a skincare routine, give yourself like five minutes to do that.
I normally just splash my face with water, brush my teeth, brush my hair, do all that good stuff.
And then it's my favorite part of the morning.
It's time for coffee.
You don't have to spend a lot of money on cute glassware.
My favorite glasses for iced coffee are from Anthropologie.
They're the Icon juice glasses.
I think one is like $10, which isn't terrible, but it adds up if you want more than one.
But you can get some of the best coffee glasses and coffee mugs from the thrift store.
I just got the cutest coffee mug from Goodwill.
It's white with this like dark color. green ring around it and it has a little duck with a red ribbon around its neck so it's not super christmassy but it's giving christmas and i genuinely look forward to using that whenever i can but make your coffee and then sit down in your robe get your journal out and hand write your morning gratitude your morning affirmations and your goals for the day going off morning coffee i'm Another way to romanticize your winter is really tapping into different scents and flavors that make you think of winter and the holidays.
I started drinking my Christmas flavors on November 1st.
For me, pumpkin is September through October.
Honestly, I would drink it year-round if it was an option.
But pumpkin is my fall flavor.
And then, come November 1st, I switched to either peppermint mocha, white chocolate or my current favorite Dunkin' flavor or drink is the Cloud Cookie Butter Latte.
It's so good.
I also make changes to the candles.
I use body sprays, body scrubs, body washes literally anything that smells good.
I'm swapping out for a winter scent.
One of my favorite things to go shopping for during the holidays, specifically on Black Friday, is Bath & Body Works.
They have the best Christmas scents.
I love their body washes.
I love their hand sanitizers, even their candles.
Year round.
I like to have clean scented products, candles that smell like fresh laundry.
I like kind of more masculine perfume, not super sweet, but when winter comes around i actually prefer sweet.
I love my candles to smell like baked goods, like right now i have the gingerbread frosting candle by threshold from target.
Another one of my favorite candles from that brand is the almond croissant one.
That's my all-time favorite one and i would burn that year round.
And then from bath and body works i really love their snowflakes and cashmere scent and the champagne toast scent.
I really like anything sweet that smells like gingerbread, sugar cookie cinnamon, nutmeg.
But also when I think of winter, I also think of woodsy scents, cedar, amber, pine.
Like I can't wait to get our Christmas tree.
We're doing a real tree again this year.
And if you've never had a real tree, basically they just I mean they smell like the way you'd imagine a pine tree to smell.
They smell like a pine tree, but it makes your house smell so good.
The reason that changing your scents and flavors to match the season helps you romanticize winter is because you're giving your brain a little signal that this is a special moment.
These are special things that I can only get during this time of year, which makes you grateful for it, which makes you slow down and enjoy it.
Like the thought of the holidays ending and them taking away.
My cookie butter latte just breaks my heart.
So I will savor it for as long as I can.
Also, like I was saying before, The winter can just be dark and gloomy and cold, and something that we dread.
So switching up what you're smelling and what you're tasting immediately changes the vibe.
Like having cozy things like a sweet candle or a cookie.
Flavored coffee helps your brain associate the season with comfort rather than stress.
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Obviously during the winter, a lot of people don't spend the majority of their day at home.
They're at work, they're at school, and those aren't the most fun or joyful places to be.
It can be kind of hard to romanticize your life when you're busy doing a task that isn't aesthetic or isn't fun or isn't something that you want to be doing.
So the fifth thing that I want you to try is romanticizing on the go.
Try to think of things that you can do or that you can bring with you when you're leaving the house.
That would make your day more enjoyable.
It doesn't have to be anything crazy, just winter related things that make you feel good, that make you feel happy and are things that you would look forward to.
For example, that could be getting an air freshener for your car that's winter scented.
Again, Bath & Body Works has some of the best scents.
I think you can get any of their scents in an air freshener.
Like I want to get the Tree Farm one and I want to get the Strawberry Snowflakes one.
Another thing that you can do while you're driving is to drive with cute gloves or a cute scarf or cute earmuffs.
Again, nothing crazy.
It's just leaning into the season and wearing something comfy and feeling cute.
You can make yourself a winter playlist to listen to on your way to work or school.
That was one of the things I would always look forward to when I had to commute to work.
Obviously I wouldn't look forward to going to work, but having like 45 minutes to drive and listen to good music and drink my coffee just put me in a really good mood.
So you can make a winter playlist or you can listen to Christmas music.
Packing a thermos filled with hot coffee, hot chocolate, hot tea, and...
Drinking it on your way to work or school just adds more to that drive.
Or if you're not into hot drinks, having some type of winter themed cup or koozie for colder drinks.
I just got a 40 ounce tumbler from Michaels.
It literally looks just like a Stanley, but it's not.
It was like $10, but it's so cute.
It's pink and it has red ribbon all over it.
It's very Christmassy.
And I use it for water, but you can use it for anything.
For water, for coffee, for breakfast.
Dr Pepper.
I don't know whatever tickles your fancy, but it makes drinking more fun and quirky and it's something to look forward to.
You can change your wallpaper on your phone or laptop to something more wintry.
Just look on Pinterest and I'm sure you'll find plenty of ideas there.
You can do like a nutcracker themed wallpaper, a snowy scene with deers and trees and snowmen, like my bedding that I had, if you don't know.
Oh, I had the most beautiful... comforter on my bed.
It's in my videos recently on my podcast TikTok, but I was always posting about it because I loved it so much.
It was so wintry.
It was so cute.
And then the other day I took a shower and I left my dog Sebastian on the bed and he ripped it up.
And it's one of those things that you just can't find anywhere.
Like it's not online.
I can't find it anywhere online.
It was the last one at HomeGoods, so I can't just rebuy it.
But I love that style.
I bought a quilt to replace it.
And it's not the same, but it's the same vibe, the same aesthetic, where it's a snow scene with deers and trees.
And I just love that.
So I think that'd be really cute as a wallpaper.
You could do one of your favorite scenes or like characters from a Christmas movie as your background.
Just something that makes you feel happy and you like to look at when you open your phone or open your laptop when you're about to work.
It just brings you joy.
And then I think your appearance can play a big part in how you feel throughout the day and make your day better.
Like I remember in school and even at my last job, whenever there was a theme to dress up, for example pajama day, or if it was Halloween, I was so excited to go in and embrace it and dress up.
So for winter you could wear pieces with snowflakes on them.
Snowmen Santa reindeer, different holiday cartoon characters like I have a really cute Snoopy Santa sweater that I got at a boutique a couple years ago and I love wearing that every winter.
During the winter, I really love to layer and over accessorize.
I love wearing chunky sweaters or like an oversized crew neck with a turtleneck underneath.
I love to wear sweaters and then a big jacket on top.
I think lots of jewelry is really cute.
I usually lean towards gold jewelry.
That's just my preference.
But I think silver during the holidays is so beautiful.
I also like the idea of playing with your makeup and changing your makeup to match the season.
There's so many different ways you can go about it.
I've seen people do chilly girl makeup or frosty glam where you do a lot of pink blush and then like silvery white eyeshadow.
There's deep winter makeup where you use darker shades, you know, darker reds on your lips.
And there's so many more styles that you can do.
And then the last thing that I want to propose you do this winter, which I think is the most niche thing and just something that I enjoy, and when I think of winter, this comes to mind and it's something that I look forward to whenever I know that I'm going to do it.
And that is having a classy night out.
During the week, we're staying in, we're cozy, we're comfy, we're on do not disturb, right?
But When the weekend rolls around, we're going out.
We're hitting the town.
And listen, I like a good night out.
I like getting drinks with my girls.
I love having a feral night out.
But I love getting all dressed up, doing my hair, doing my makeup, and going to a good dinner.
There is just something so different between going out during the summertime and going out during the winter.
And I think style plays big part of it.
When i imagine myself going out in the winter with my fiance or with my girlfriends.
I'm wearing all black, i have a fur coat on, i have my hair curled or in a really high ponytail.
I have full glam on.
We're not doing any clean girl makeup full glam, red lip on nails done, perfume on a glass of wine in my hand, cheese and italian meats in my face.
Entree is pasta or pizza.
There's mood lighting, candles lit, jazz music playing and on a good night.
There's two ways this can end.
I'm either going out dancing with my girlfriends or i'm going home with my fiance, drawing a bath, pouring another glass of wine and soaking indefinitely.
That is genuinely my ideal night out during the winter.
I can literally picture in my head and again, i don't know how to describe it it just when i envision it.
I'm like i'm the main character.
I'm the main character.
I'm in a movie and everyone's in love with me and I'm in love with me and I'm just so happy and it's the best thing ever.
You know what I mean?
And if you don't know what I mean, try it out.
If you don't want to go out, do it at home.
You know, get dressed up, pour yourself a glass of wine, order some food or make some food, set the lighting and just enjoy a good meal while you look divine.
I hope that this episode helps you enjoy the winter more and it helps you romanticize your life.
The winter can be really hard, but we don't have to let it be something that we're afraid of or that we're anxious of.
Instead of thinking winter's going to suck and I'm going to have a horrible time and I'm going to be so depressed.
Try to craft your own experience and shift your mindset to this winter is whatever.
I make it and I want to make it fun.
I want to make it magical.
I want to make it cozy.
I want it to be just like the movies.
I want to be the main character and I want to love my life.
If this episode helped you out or you just enjoyed it, make sure to let me know.
You can let me know in the Spotify comments or you can let me know on Instagram and TikTok.
Those are linked in the show notes.
You could also let me know by just rating it on Spotify and Apple.
That always helps me out and I appreciate it so much.
As always, thanks so much for hanging out with me and listening to me talk.
I appreciate you.
I love you.
And I will talk to you next Monday.
I hope you have the best Thanksgiving ever if you're listening to it in real time.
Okay.
I love you.
See you next Monday.
Aren't we so glad that my episodes come out on Monday so I don't have to say see you next Tuesday.
Bye.
