14 Coping Strategies If You Hate Winter (& Love Plants)

Last Updated on December 12, 2024

Do you hate winter? Here are top tips for coping with winter when you really, really, really hate it from someone with more than 20 years experience living in a place where it’s often winter nearly 6 months of the year!

HOW TO COPE WHEN YOU HATE WINTER

I think I’ve been writing about this topic in my head for more than 20 years, and it finally occurred to me that it might make a good subject for a blog post.

When I typed “coping with winter” into my browser’s search bar, I was stunned to find how many people were actually searching for the phrase, “i hate winter!”

Are they looking for answers of some kind, or just venting anywhere they possibly can?

Well, I feel you, people! And honestly, most of the suggestions I found were seriously insufficient. So many of the people writing them really didn’t have much experience of the seriously cold, absurdly long winters that have led me to write this.

People who’ve never lived north of Washington D. C. have a very incomplete understanding of what winter means to people living in truly cold climates. Their winters are so enviably short and mild! I’m afraid you Bostonians don’t realize how lucky you are either. Your winters are months shorter and many, many degrees warmer than what those of us in the upper Midwest suffer through each year.

And yes, I’m sure those of you even further north than central Minnesota rightly see me as enjoying relatively less intolerably cold weather. Go ahead and pish-posh my misery if you like, as I do the writers complaining about temperatures in the 30s whose winters are over by the beginning of March. You’ve earned the right!

I haven’t always hated winter. I grew up in New England and wasn’t bothered much by it until I moved to Minnesota. I still think winter snowfall can be pretty, and I’ve enjoyed playing in the snow with my kids often over the years.

My loathing of winter stems from living through more than twenty Minnesota winters where the thermometer stays below 10 degrees for days, where sometimes the thermometer doesn’t even get out of negative territory and windchills bring the ‘feels like’ temperature down to -30 or worse.

Worst of all for someone who loves spending time with plants, sometimes winter sets in on Halloween and doesn’t let up till the end of April. I grew up in New England and have no problem at all with a reasonable amount of winter, like the three months the calendar leads us to believe it should last.

But nearly SIX months with no plants growing?

That’s *really* hard to take for people who love plants!

So over time I’ve accumulated strategies to make those long months of winter a bit less painful.

I don’t know that my suggestions will make you hate winter less, but some of these strategies may help you manage till spring rolls around. And I hope yours rolls waaaay before mine does! I’ll still be here shivering and awaiting the first little bits of green in early April. 🙁

And unlike many irksome posts on the interwebs, I’m not just going to tell you to embrace winter, hygge, or take up a winter sport.

Because we both know the people who dish this advice simply don’t get what hating winter is all about.

When the windchill is -30, being told to try cross-country skiing just isn’t helpful.

Also, though winter’s cold and darkness can affect anyone’s mood, we’re not talking about seasonal affective disorder (SAD). If that’s your issue, please consult with a medical professional.

If you hate winter and love plants, here are the best suggestions I can offer you.

1. WEARING THE RIGHT GEAR IS ESSENTIAL WHEN YOU HATE WINTER

(This is actually tip #2, 3, 4, & 5 also. No, really. )

I cannot emphasize enough how critical appropriate clothing is! If your main beef with winter is the cold, having gear that keeps you warm and comfortable is the single most important thing you can do.

Like insulating your house, fully covering and insulating your body from the cold is critical. We’re going to spend a lot of time covering this issue, so if you hate the cold read carefully and take notes!

So what’s the right gear?

After more than two decades enduring sub-zero temperatures, I can tell you that if you’re trying to get by with cotton shirts and wool coats, your duds need a serious upgrade.

When we moved to Minnesota 20+ years ago, I was stunned by how much colder it was than the not-especially-warm New England winters I’d grown up with. A friend advised me I needed to get higher-grade apparel and helped me find the all-important right gear. It made an enormous difference.

I’ve rarely had a problem dealing with the cold since.

Many items in the cold weather toolkit are made of polar fleece, but natural fabrics like wool can work also.

We’re going to tackle the gear in two parts, since you’ll need some items for braving the cold outside, and others for staying cozy inside without spending an insane amount of money on heat.

GEAR FOR STAYING WARM INDOORS

To stay warm in a cooler house, you’ll want to layer with a nice warm sweater or hoodie.

Appropriately warm material for your legs is also vital: Pants with a nap of some sort, not jeans or yoga pants, but sweats with a fluffy interior to trap warm air. Or even polar fleece pants if you tend to run cold and want to be extra cozy.

My daughter, who also dislikes cold weather, loves wearing fluffy joggers like these when temperatures plummet. Together with a fleece hoodie, she’s basically swaddled in blankets wherever she goes.

Try different options, and you’ll begin to notice the subtle differences between the warmth offered by different sweaters and pants. On truly frigid days I reach for my warmest layers, and on others my more standard winter gear. The basic cotton pants and shirts don’t come out again till mid-April.

Cozy socks plus slippers or indoor shoes of some sort to keep your feet off the cool floor will also make you much more comfortable and keep you from spending a fortune cranking up the furnace.

Find out more about other easy ways to save energy on winter heating. If you seal up the easy-to-address drafts coming from your electrical outlets and under your doors and windows, you’ll find yourself a lot less chilly going about your house.

GEAR FOR STAYING WARM OUTSIDE

For braving severely cold temperatures outdoors, you need to be really strategic and make sure you’ve got the right gear.

You’ve probably gotten the advice to layer, and this advice is sound. Multiple layers help keep heat near your body, like the insulation your house uses to keep out winter chill. Adding warm fleece-lined leggings beneath your pants can make a world of difference for keeping your legs toasty. Trust me on this one.

You’ll want a well-insulated, waterproof coat for your outermost layer. For extreme cold, look at the temperature ratings the coat was designed for, and choose something with an exceptionally low rating.

For severe cold, get a LONG parka. A long coat rather than a jacket will hold heat by your legs, which can get cold when it’s below zero even if you’ve wisely donned your fleece-lined leggings under your fleece pants.

I was given a long North Face Arctic Parka many Christmases ago that’s so warm I wear it only on the coldest days of the year when I need to walk somewhere. I start sweating in it if I wait more than a minute to head out the door. It goes down below my knees and holds heat near my legs in severe cold.

Look for a parka that goes down to your ankles to ensure even more warmth.

But a great coat isn’t enough if you haven’t made sure you have mittens up to the task of keeping your fingers warm. (If you’ve never experienced truly brutal cold, you may not know mittens are WAY better than gloves for keeping fingers warm in extremely low temperatures.)

If you have trouble keeping your hands warm, one of these rechargeable hand warmers may be worth exploring. Those single-use handwarmers filled with chemicals just aren’t a great idea for anyone trying to be more eco-friendly and waste less.

A hat is also a must and can be combined with a hood on your coat. Hats can be pulled down to cover more of your head and don’t make it difficult to see and hear as some coats’ big hoods do. Add a scarf or a neck gaiter to cover your neck and pull it up over your face for bitter days. Or go all in and get a balaclava.

A pair of lined pants or snow pants is also a good idea for when you have to be out in the cold for longer periods. I started wearing some for my trek to the gym on days below 20, and they helped a ton. They’re also vital for accompanying kiddos to the sledding hill. You won’t win any awards for fashion, but you’ll be so much happier to be warm and cozy.

Don’t forget footwear! If you dress for work and need dress shoes, pack them in a bag and wear something warm and cozy (and waterproof) on your feet. A quality pair of insulated boots with faux-fur lining make my feet SO much happier about heading outside!

2. HATE WINTER? GO ALL IN ON WARM DRINKS

No matter how carefully you’ve chosen your clothes, a fragrant cup of something warm can go a long way to boosting your mood on a cold day.

So indulge in some flavorful teas or your favorite coffee, and breathe in the delicious aroma for an instant mood boost.

Sometimes a cozy cup of homemade hot cocoa is just the thing to warm you up when you come in from the cold. One of the benefits of chocolate is a mood boost, so by all means indulge when the craving strikes. (You’ll find a healthier hot chocolate recipe in that post as well.)

Even though all the plants are dead, if you have a cabinet stocked with herbal reminders of the summer’s bounty, it can give you a dose of plant goodness no matter the season. And sipping hot liquid is of course great for warming you up on a cold day.

I focus on herbs for my tea with some extra boosts of color and flavor.

I learned from an herbalist friend that calendula was supposed to help with winter blues, so I try to toss some dry calendula flowers into the pot whenever I’m brewing tea, whether it’s my evening sleep blend or something fruity to keep me hydrated during the day.

Here are some of my go-to teas if you need to shake up your routine:

• TeaLyra’s Heal Thyself Moringa and Cream Earl Grey Moonlight (use the code ‘SAVVY’ to save 20%)
• Palais de Thes Scandinavian Detox
• Organic India’s Tulsi Rose tea (another combination herbalists recommend for boosting mood)

I also highly recommend the many drinks from Four Sigmatic, which has amazing coffee as well as delicious cacao drinks supercharged with feel-good ingredients like reishi and cordyceps.

Experiment to find the flavors that most help boost your mood, but be aware that not all herbs are created equal. Some herbs have a cooling effect on the body, which probably isn’t what you’re after on a cold January day. Here’s a list of cooling herbs that you might want to use sparingly till you need them again in summertime.

3. INDULGE IN THINGS YOU’VE PRESERVED FROM YOUR GARDEN

Like the herbs you enjoy in your teapot, preserving home-grown produce can be a lifeline to the summer growing season, seeing you through from the killing frost to the spring thaw.

When you get serviceberries from the freezer and make delicious muffins or enjoy a big plate of ratatouille you preserved in August, take a moment to really pay attention to what’s in front of you. Savor the flavors, remember the warm summer sun you enjoyed when you picked the fruits and vegetables, and give yourself a huge pat on the back for preserving some of that summer joy.

Doesn’t that help you hate winter a little less? Some other easy food preservation ideas to help you through winter:

• Dried peaches
• Zucchini chips
• No-fail baked kale chips

When you crumble up basil leaves you dried yourself, take a deep breath and take in the aroma. Here’s more on preserving herbs so you can make the most of the deliciousness growing in your garden all year round.

You can also try making a DIY potpourri using plants you’ve found in the garden or on foraging walks. Some sunny straw flowers and pods and cones can help bring nature indoors and transport you back to your warmer times outdoors.

4. PLANT LOVERS: GROW STUFF INDOORS

So one of the BIG problems with winter for plant lovers is that everything looks dead.

Well, not everything. Thank goodness for conifers, which give us a bit of green as well as great stuff to forage. I make the most of pine and spruce during the winter months, brewing pine needle tea and spruce tea, and making pine tincture to fight off colds and pine syrup to soothe coughs.

Here are more ways to use pine needles if you need some inspiration. You can also try making birch tea from birch twigs you find.

Surrounding yourself with house plants may alleviate your garden withdrawal symptoms, as can growing vegetables indoors. Even growing microgreens or sprouts can give you a little taste of the joy of growing.

An inexpensive mushroom growing kit is another simple option.

Or treat yourself to an indoor growing system so you can enjoy some homegrown produce even in the darkest, coldest days of winter.

5. COMBAT WINTER BLAHS WITH VIBRANT COLORS

I realized as I was walking one chilly fall day that one of the things that most bums me out in the 5 to 6 months of winter is the lack of vibrant color. The fall is always tinged with a bit of sadness for me because I know winter is coming any minute, but the brilliant show of bright yellow and orange leaves has an immediate positive impact on my mood that’s lacking when I go walking on a sunny day after all the leaves have fallen.

Seeking out colors indoors might be something to try to combat the blah visual experience of winter. Adding a fresh coat of sunny yellow paint to your kitchen or hanging up a colorful poster you can gaze at from time to time might help your mood on dreary winter days.

Warm hues like reds, oranges, and yellows may evoke feelings of energy and warmth, both of which we may sorely lack during winter. Yellow, the color of sunshine and all those sunny flowers, is a great choice for lifting the spirits on a grey, overcast day.

Whichever colors bring you joy, consider adding them to your home to boost your spirits.

6. GET OUT WHEN YOU CAN

I know, those of us who hate winter don’t especially relish going outside when it’s cold.

But when temperatures permit, do try to get outside, even for a short time. The fresh air and sunlight does wonders for mood, even if you can only manage a short walk around the block. There are tons of benefits of getting outside even in winter, and staying in too much can make your mood worse.

Join the kids in building an igloo or snowman or take a tromp through the woods. And if skiing appeals, consider trying out cross-country skiing for a great workout that will keep you warm in all but the coldest temperatures.

If you need extra motivation to get outdoors, make a deal with another winter-hater to go on regular short walks together. You’ll get an extra boost from the social time and you can gripe together about winter or share your most successful winter coping strategies.

When you can’t get out, exposing yourself to bright light is still helpful. Work near a window if you can, and consider using one these daylight lamps to give yourself a dose of the light you’re lacking on winter’s shortened days.

7. ENJOY HAVING TIME TO DO THINGS YOU DON’T DURING THE GROWING SEASON

Do you ever feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day during the growing season?

Silver lining to winter: With less time needed for gardening, maybe you have more time to learn new a skill or pursue your fitness goals. Consider taking a class through community education, a gym or yoga studio, or another local organization. Maybe you can find a fun knitting class and knit yourself something cozy to wear in the bargain.

Other things to do with time you’re not spending in the garden include reading books you’ve been meaning to, planning your summer travels, and trying out new recipes. It’s a perfect time to enjoy some nourishing white bean soup.

Be sure to remind yourself that the reason you have time for these things is winter. Keep seeking out and enjoying that silver lining!

8. GET SOCIAL

One of the things I’ve heard people in my neighborhood remark on many times over the years is how we don’t see each other much once the temps dip in October. When it’s pleasant out, people out walking dogs or strolling down to the farmers’ market stop to talk to people working in the garden. Once it’s too cold to garden, everyone hurries out of the cold till things warm up again in April.

If social isolation is compounding your wintertime unhappiness, seek out social opportunities whenever you can. Look for a local book club, volunteer for an organization, or invite a friend to a winter-themed activity in your area.

Or get three-for-one and curl up with warm drinks on the sofa and talk about plants together!

9. VISIT A CONSERVATORY

Missing being around growing things in winter?

If you live somewhere you can spend time with plants in winter, strolling in a conservatory or even the tropical trail at the zoo can give you a little dose of time with plants.

What could feel less like winter than an 80 degree haven for tropical plants? Peel off those extra layers and soak it in.

10. SHOP A WINTER FARMERS’ MARKET

While there may not be a lot growing in the winter, often you can find winter farmers’ markets where growers are selling long-storing root vegetables or apples, as well as yummy preserved jams and sauces. Locally-made baked goods and cheeses are also common features of winter markets.

Recapture a little of that feel-good time browsing the summer farm market stalls, then come home and bite into a sweet local carrot or savor some delicious fruity preserves.

11. READ ABOUT PLANTS & GARDENING

I know reading about gardening is a pale substitute for actually gardening, but realistically, during the growing season how much time do you have to read about gardening techniques?

So grab that cozy blanket and a steaming cup of your favorite herbal tea, and enjoy reading some of the best gardening books you can get your hands on.

If you’ve been curious about permaculture but haven’t had the time to learn more about it, here are some of the best permaculture books to explore.

Winter is also an excellent time to further your herbal education. With all the herbs asleep for the winter, you have loads more time to read herbalism books or take a class on using herbs.

The Herbal Academy has a wide array of courses you can take online to advance your knowledge of plant medicine. Tap the banner below to learn more about their offerings.

12. PLAN YOUR SPRING GARDEN

Take your garden dreams a step further and map out where you’ll grow things in the coming season. Take your time browsing seed catalogs before there are a zillion tasks to accomplish in the garden.

If you’re a newer gardener, check out the many resources at Brown Thumb Mama, including guides to companion planting and planting schedules. Find out more here

13. HEAD SOMEWHERE WARM IF YOU CAN

A little break from the cold and monochrome of the winter landscape can help you through those especially hard middle weeks (or months) of winter. The times I’ve been able to get away in late January or February have restored my tolerance a bit to see me through till things finally start melting at the end of March.

Anticipation of something you’re looking forward to has also been shown to increase happiness, so having that getaway coming up will give you a mood boost long before you make your escape.

Whether you can manage a week in the Caribbean or only a few days somewhere vaguely south of where are you, the respite from cold, grey weather may help fortify you for the weeks till spring has sprung again.

14. WATCH MOVIES SET IN WARM LOCATIONS

Can’t actually get away? Escape for an hour or two to somewhere warm with the magic of streaming videos.

This one doesn’t always work. Sometimes seeing people enjoying the summer sun just makes me more miserable about being stuck in winter, but sometimes it serves as a temporary escape. When I found Hotel Portofino on PBS last winter, I SO looked forward to those gorgeous establishing shots of the cool town built into the seaside cliffs.

But it also totally made me check out flights to Italy.

If you need some suggestions for films to warm you up, here’s a helpful list from New York magazine. Or look into some of these movies for plant lovers.

Snuggle under your coziest blanket and enjoy gazing at the warm ocean, tropical forest, or wherever your happy place might be.

I hope some of these ideas help you have an easier slog till spring!

Do you hate winter, too? PLEASE share your coping strategies with the rest of us!

Save these tips for coping when you hate winter for when you need them!

I hate winter photo credits in pin and cover: Antagain, Liz West, Jelena990