Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark rank among the top 10 coldest countries in the world, yet their residents are consistently named some of the happiest people on Earth. In fact, Finland has claimed the title of happiest country in the world for six consecutive years. While many of us struggle with the winter blues, the citizens of these Nordic countries seem to know how to embrace and find joy in the cold weather.
Facing the winter with a positive mindset and engaging in activities that raise our spirits can help us beat the sad feelings that may creep in during the bleaker months. Despite the colder, shorter days, we can still find ways to enjoy the simple pleasures of the season, whether it’s taking a brisk walk, appreciating wintry landscape, sharing a hearty meal with family and friends, or reading a good book by a warm fire while wearing some fuzzy socks.
If the winter blues have you feeling down this season, let these cozy quotes comfort you and remind you of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s encouraging words: “If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?”
The earth is resting, and I am in need of rest, too. In winter, I feel at home in the silences of the world.
People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.
The snow is beautiful on the ground. / And always the lights of heaven glow / Softly down on the hair of my belovèd.
It seems like everything sleeps in winter, but it’s really a time of renewal and reflection.
Summer friends will melt away like summer snows, but winter friends are friends forever.
In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
Even in winter it shall be green in my heart.
No animal, according to the rules of animal etiquette, is ever expected to do anything strenuous, or heroic, or even moderately active during the off-season of winter.
The way a crow / Shook down on me/ The dust of snow / From a hemlock tree / Has given my heart / A change of mood / And saved some part / Of a day I had rued.
Once we stop wishing it were summer, winter can be a glorious season in which the world takes on a sparse beauty and even the pavements sparkle … Doing those deeply unfashionable things — slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting — is a radical act now, but it is essential.
I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure in the landscape … Something waits beneath it — the whole story doesn’t show.
Oh, the weather outside is frightful / But the fire is so delightful / And since we’ve no place to go / Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
Perhaps I am a bear, or some hibernating animal, underneath, for the instinct to be half asleep all winter is so strong in me.
I am a book of snow, / a spacious hand, an open meadow, / a circle that waits, / I belong to the earth and its winter.
I love winter, and when you really love something, then it loves you back, in whatever way it has to love.
Featured Image Credit: SENRYU/ iStock
Kristina Wright
Kristina is a coffee-fueled writer living happily ever after with her family in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia.
