NATURE IS THE REMEDY FOR YOUR WINTER BLUES

Feb 17

This time of year can be the hardest to find ways to improve your mental health and boost the overall vibe of your house. For me, it seems no matter how hard I try, after the holidays and the New Year, I find that we are sitting around way too much as a family. My wife and I have four boys and the six of us can get a case of “Cabin Fever” during the Pacific Northwest (PNW) winters that will turn toxic if I don’t address it.

In this article, I will share my experience with the Winter Blues and some tips so you can reset the vibe in your house. This shift will restore your family’s mental health and sense of emotional resilience, and it doesn’t take long before everyone in your house will start to feel better.

Our first few years here in Oregon, we were naïve about how intense the Winter Blues could affect us, so we just hunkered down and stayed inside for the rainy season (Oct.-May). By about February, our mental health was absolutely destroyed by not getting outside enough, and our physical health was also taking a dive. My wife and I moved here from Southern California in 2005 with our first son, to start our family. We spent the previous 7 years together on spontaneous and limitless outdoor adventures and had grown used to amazing outdoor life year-round. It took a while to learn how to adjust to this new climate, and how to understand what was going on with my mental health in the wintertime. I soon learned this seasonal depression was a real thing and began to take very serious steps to stay healthy and happy during the winter. I don't know why it was such a big surprise to discover the winter depression that the PNW is known for, but it hit me hard.

To be fair, summertime here where I live feels nothing short of Heaven. Imagine 16 hours of beautiful sunshine every day, playing in the lakes and rivers and hiking the rich green forest every weekend, plus running and bike riding all the time! The long warm days feel endless and the peaceful nights around the fire feel magical.

Then winter appears out of nowhere and all of your outdoor adventures come to an immediate halt. It seems like life comes to a stop and all your time outside is replaced with indoor boredom. (Maybe if I did not work inside it would not be so bad, but I just go nuts when I'm stuck inside all the time!)

At first, you make the best of it and binge-watch everything on Netflix, but that only takes a month or so. You try to pull out board games, but most of these game nights end in tears because, well.. losing sucks, and someone always loses badly in competitive games (like Scrabble, Catan, and Risk). So you try to stick to safe games (like Pandemic, Gestures, and Apples to Apples), but you can only really play board games so often before everyone becomes bored out of their mind.

Eventually the inevitable happens and everyone falls into their own internet bubbles, either playing online games, scrolling social media, or watching YouTube streamers. Once you get to this point, it’s only a matter of time until depression sets in, and your family's mental health goes down the tubes. One by one, each and every family member will begin to pull away more and spend more time alone. Depression wants to be alone. So when you notice everyone bolting to their rooms angry to be bothered with dinner, and not getting along with each other, you need to reset the vibe. Your kids won’t do it on their own. This is on you, mom and dad. You set the vibe.

Reset the vibe in your house.

As a father, I take the responsibility very seriously of setting a healthy tone in the house. I truly believe that much of the overall health and happiness of the home begins with me and so it is essential to have a healthy mind, body, and emotions if I expect my home to be a happy one. When I begin to relax and let life go on auto-pilot, it is only a matter of time before everyone in the family starts to feel stressed and unmotivated.

For example, when I have a short temper, and lash out coldly to my wife, I see it repeated with my kids. There’s a saying that says, “shit rolls downhill” and it means that when you give shit to someone weaker than you, they take it, but only until they can give shit to a person weaker than them. Soon the family dog is taking shit from the youngest kid. I kid you not. This shitty downward spiral can happen fast and can feel like there is nothing you can do to stop it.

But I have learned there are ways to get back on track and to reset the vibe in your house. How can you do that, you ask? For me and my house, when we need to crank up the “happiness meter” the answer is always getting outside together with healthy-mindful movement, regardless of the season or the weather. The key is learning how to adapt in order to enjoy winter outside as much as you do summer! Here in the PNW, it rains a lot in the winter, but there is always a way to get outside if you work around the storms and have some good outdoor gear.

However, it is also very easy to find reasons to stay home and relax in the warm cozy glow of some Netflix. Don’t get me wrong, it's great to chill and watch movies, but anything more than a couple of hours a day is just too excessive for me. (Except for the rare but awesome movie marathon!) Spending hours upon hours of our free time in front of the TV, devices, and computers is not healthy. But I know we all do it. I get it, it's freaking cold outside and nobody wants to go on a damn hike! But you cannot give in. You must push forward and get everyone outside!

Tips to get the family outside.

As most avid outdoorsy peeps will vouch, you can almost always find a break in the rain for a nice hike once you get out there, and with the right gear, a shower or two might even make the hike more adventurous. When it is a little drizzly out, I go for hikes that are heavily wooded, (even better if it's an old-growth forest) as the canopy of tree cover will keep you mostly dry and the rain will not be a problem.

You really just need to make sure everyone has good gear. The minimum would be:

Nice hiking shoes/boots, gloves, pants, 3 upper layers (base layer t-shirt is fine, mid layer hoodie, fleece or puffy, outer layer needs to be a light rain jacket) a backpack, a cover for the ears (beanie or earmuffs), and everyone needs their own water.

Now, I need to be honest. I have four kids and I never am able to get every kid geared up with the previous list. But I tell them over and over and the older they get they catch on. Truth is, I carry a big backpack so I always have a few sets of extra gloves, spare beanies, a fleece to loan out, lots of water, and usually some traveler snacks. I think my kids depend on this backup a little too much, but it gets us out on the trail.

Food is Motivation!

Another tip to get the kids motivated to go hiking is to always pack top-notch snacks! We always bring food to have a little snack when we arrive at the trailhead, as it is usually a long car ride and everyone is ready for a pick-me-up. Then we do the same after we finish the hike and try to mix things up a bit, and this is done easily with food breaks. It’s also kind of an incentive to climb the mountain, run the trail, and reward yourself for being active and staying fit.

Sidenote. I think back to our Hunter-Gatherer ancestors, how food motivated them to run fast and far during the hunt, and how they pushed themselves physically to take advantage of the resources nature provided. I believe it is healthy to restore this connection between the mind and the body, and for example, rewarding a long hard run with a big juicy burger!

Make it Awesome.

You are going to need to do some research and find the Best Hikes in your Region. Don't just drive to a boring trail through a field of tall grass and expect your family to enjoy themselves. You are their tour guide, and you need to locate the best hikes possible so they know it is worth all the effort! Buy some local hiking books (William Sullivan is my hiking Guru), get some hiking apps (AllTrails is great), and learn your area inside and out until you are a trail master. We have so many resources now at our fingertips, there is no excuse not to totally blow your kid’s mind with the majestic beauty in nature!

Nothing wrong with repeat hikes! I have about a dozen of my go-to hikes that I know will deliver what we are looking for: peace of mind and a good time! These hikes are all within an hour away and require almost nothing to jump in a truck and have everyone moving on a trail with ease. I used to try to find new hikes every time, and you end up with more duds. Not every hike in the book is a good hike, even if they claim it is. And most of the hikes I find on apps are mid at best. You need to sift through these boring hikes and choose the good ones! Trust me on this, if you want your family to enjoy the time outdoors, you need to do your research and take them out on the absolute Bangers! Like I said, let nature blow your family’s mind- don’t settle for mediocre. Go for the best!

Winter Waterfalls.

The best advice I can give for winter hiking is to check out the waterfalls in your area. In the winter, the falls are raging with water, and the crowds are gone. In the summer, the falls often slow to a trickle and the trails are crowded with people! It is a delightful surprise to go to your favorite summer spots and realize in the winter you have them all to yourselves. I will take the cooler weather, with a shower or two, in exchange for the peace and serenity of a raging waterfall all to yourself. Soon everyone realizes hiking in the winter has its own amazing beauty and the experience is worth every bit of the effort it takes.

Maybe you do not have waterfalls and rivers in your area. (I am so sorry! You can always move? jkjk..) Do you have beaches? We love to go hunt for winter agates! Do you have deserts or dunes? Ice and snow? Wherever you are, explore your wilderness! No matter where you live and what climates you face, find ways to be outside and have fun together as much as possible throughout the entire year! Learn how to adapt to the elements, and invest in good outdoor gear that will allow you to safely go deeper into the wild. Just try to choose outdoor activities that everyone can do together, and make sure they are affordable, and doable on a day trip or weekend getaway. Consistency is key, so availability and access are essential.

Get to know your nature.

Begin to learn about the nature in your environment. Find out the names of the trees, plants, and mushrooms, and learn how they were used by indigenous people and teach this to your kids. Learn the names of the birds and the animals and even the insects! Study the habitats you come across and see how the seasons change the environment. All of this will deepen your connection with nature, further ground you, and bring lasting peace of mind.

Our family loves to collect treasures from our hikes (nice minerals like agates, obsidian, and jasper) and display them around the house. This not only teaches everyone how to spot special stones but also brings some of that good energy back to the house. You can pick up an agate you found on the beach and almost be transported to the time and place when you found it. It is amazing how much rocks will help you (and your kids) relax.

You got this!

So if you feel particularly down this time of year, and you have a bad case of The Winter Blues, remember that you can change how you feel. Get outside every day for a 20 min walk no matter what it takes, rain or snow, and you will start to feel better. If you need to reset the vibe in your house, get your family out on a good hike once a week if you can (but no less than once a month) and cut the time in front of screens down to a minimum and you will notice a shift almost immediately. I try to plan an Epic hike once a month, usually a couple of hours away, and go for trusted favorite local hikes on the alternating weekends.

Some things we cannot control in life, but this is an area you are in control. You get to decide how you spend your free time and you get to plan your family weekends. If you want more happiness in your life and your family this winter, make it happen. You are the agent of your own destiny and you alone get to create for yourself a truly meaningful and joyful life experience.

**The Joy Family** at **Green Peak Falls** in **Alsea, OR** on **February 4, 2023 💚**

Chris Joy https://Iamtabu.com