{"id":2038,"date":"2025-12-14T11:50:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T11:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianregency.com\/blog\/?p=2038"},"modified":"2025-12-14T11:50:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T11:50:31","slug":"how-do-you-handle-the-winter-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/2025\/12\/14\/how-do-you-handle-the-winter-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do You Handle the Winter Blues?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Depending on what part of the country you live in (if you live in the United States) your winter is either much colder than normal or nearly non-existent &#8211; looking much more like spring than winter. We have a long way to go before the weather officially turns the corner and anything could happen in the coming months &#8211; including lots of snow and dropping temperatures.<\/p><div id=\"vanes-755130515\" class=\"vanes-content vanes-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-top: 2px;margin-right: 2px;margin-bottom: 2px;margin-left: 2px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/fireswordandsea.htm\" aria-label=\"Fire Sword &amp; Sea\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/FireSwordSea_HC-scaled.jpg?fit=1706%2C2560&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Fire Sword &amp; Sea\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/FireSwordSea_HC-scaled.jpg?w=1706&ssl=1 1706w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/FireSwordSea_HC-scaled.jpg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/FireSwordSea_HC-scaled.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1 683w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/FireSwordSea_HC-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C1152&ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/FireSwordSea_HC-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C1536&ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/FireSwordSea_HC-scaled.jpg?resize=1365%2C2048&ssl=1 1365w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/FireSwordSea_HC-scaled.jpg?w=1280&ssl=1 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" width=\"569\" height=\"853\"   \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p>So how do your Regency Reflections authors handle the winter blues?<\/p>\n<p><em>Ruth Axtell:<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Embrace them.<\/p>\n<p>With temps dipping into the single digits these last couple of weeks in Maine, and getting lots of snow, I just tell myself it&#8217;s good writing weather, since there is little temptation to go outside. I feel like I&#8217;m hibernating, getting a manuscript done and now editing.<\/p>\n<p><em>Naomi Rawlings:<\/em><\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 277px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/f\/f6\/Ice_fishing-Lake_Harriet-2007-01-20.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"   \" alt=\"ice fishing\" src=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/f\/f6\/Ice_fishing-Lake_Harriet-2007-01-20.jpg\" width=\"277\" height=\"184\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I agree with Ruth. Embrace winter rather than dread it. First, snowy days make for excellent writing and putz-around-the-house days.\u00a0There&#8217;s\u00a0something wonderfully nostalgic to curling up in front of the fire with a book and a mug of hot chocolate while snow falls outside. And then there&#8217;s all the outside things you can do. Rent a snowmobile for a day trip, go skating, sledding, downhill skiing, cross country skiing, show shoeing, or ice fishing. (Fish caught through ice is way better than fish caught when the weather is warm. I have no idea why, but I swear it&#8217;s true.)<\/p>\n<p>I really think there are two ways to beat the Winter Blues. 1.) Take a break and be thankful for the slower pace that snowy days offer, or 2.) Get courageous. Bundle up, go outside, and try a new winter sport. I live on the southern shore of Lake Superior, where we get 150-200 inches of snow per year, our winters run six months long, and our trees don&#8217;t get leaves until June. People who live in this area well understand that winter doesn&#8217;t have to be boring. It can be just as fun as summer, sometimes even more so.<\/p>\n<p><em>Laurie Alice Eakes<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Um, I live in Texas&#8211;we don&#8217;t have winter blues. They consider this 40s-50s weather we&#8217;ve been having excessively cold for January, but I think it&#8217;s heavenly.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 285px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/b\/b3\/Snowman_on_frozen_lake.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"     \" alt=\"Snowman on frozen lake\" src=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/b\/b3\/Snowman_on_frozen_lake.jpg\" width=\"285\" height=\"210\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>Kristy Cambron<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I live in an area of the country where we have pretty defined weather for each season, so I actually enjoy winter! It just means that before we know it, the sunnier days of spring will be on the way. Winter is also a fantastic season for writers. I haven&#8217;t met one yet that wouldn&#8217;t love the extra time to snuggle in a warm house as the snow falls and plot that next novel &#8211; with a cup of steaming hot chocolate, of course!<\/p>\n<p><em>Kristi Ann Hunter<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I tend to ignore them, I suppose. With children in school and a regular calendar full of church activities, there would have to be a fairly significant amount of fresh snow\/ice to make me adjust my schedule.<\/p>\n<p>When that\u00a0<em>does<\/em> happen, we of course go play in it. Then we thaw out in front of a movie, huddled together under blankets.\u00a0There&#8217;s\u00a0something about the forced weather break that makes us want to be together as a family. It feels like a stolen moment.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 284px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/e\/e9\/Hei%C3%9Fe_Schokolade.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"     \" alt=\"Hot Chocolate\" src=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/e\/e9\/Hei%C3%9Fe_Schokolade.jpg\" width=\"284\" height=\"213\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>Susan Karsten<\/em><\/p>\n<p>During the winter, I drink more hot liquids, such as tea, coffee, and hot chocolate than I do in the summer. I still jog\/run, but often veer out into the street when people haven&#8217;t shoveled their sidewalks. This is the time of year my family attends more concerts, plays, conferences and the like, as opposed to summer, when everything&#8217;s about &#8220;The Lake&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>What about you? How do you handle winter?<\/p>\n<p id=\"rop\"><small>Originally posted 2013-01-16 10:00:00. <\/small><\/p><div id=\"vanes-2762966257\" class=\"vanes-after-content vanes-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-top: 3px;margin-right: 3px;margin-bottom: 3px;margin-left: 3px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SubstackAd.png?fit=1080%2C1350&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Listen to the Write of Passage Weekly Podcast\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SubstackAd.png?w=1080&ssl=1 1080w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SubstackAd.png?resize=240%2C300&ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SubstackAd.png?resize=819%2C1024&ssl=1 819w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/SubstackAd.png?resize=768%2C960&ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" width=\"540\" height=\"675\"   \/><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Depending on what part of the country you live in (if you live in the United States) your winter is either much colder than normal or nearly non-existent &#8211; looking much more like spring than winter. We have a long way to go before the weather officially turns the corner and anything could happen in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,81,11],"tags":[115,190,189],"class_list":["post-2038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-interview","category-personal-stories","category-seasons","tag-question-of-the-month","tag-regency-reflections","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2038"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2233,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2038\/revisions\/2233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanessariley.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}