A Very Hygge Winter

By Hayley McDonnell.

In the UK, the winter months are creeping closer. I have purposefully used this adjective as the change is gradual, though expected. Some days, it is bright and sunny, just like today where I am, and other times, there is frost on the car's window screen. Irrespective, I definitely feel chilly when I get out of bed. It is time to start preparing for a Just Hygge winter.

With a shift of mindset, consider embracing this time to enjoy all aspects of slow living, such as a Just Hygge lifestyle. A Just Hygge lifestyle is one where you choose to live intentionally with ease and flow at the heart.

Community 

Embrace this time to enjoy all the aspects of a Just Hygge lifestyle.

It's time to move inwards into your home and a smaller, carefully curated social circle. Bring out the candles, comfort food, and warm drinks.

Invest in cosy lighting that draws you in and encourages a time of rest and calm. The right kind of lighting at different times of the year can have both a positive and negative impact on our mental health and well-being.

Next time you are 'outside', at work, in a supermarket, cafe, or someone's home, look at the lighting and how it influences your mood. Choose to bring light into the house that is calming and soothing and invites a lifestyle choice of simplicity. Yet again, I advocate the less is more mantra, and even more so in this case.

Look forward to turning those lights on in the darker evenings but only a few!!

Try candles and use them safely (a priority) around your home—an instant flicker of happiness with the striking of the match and the first wick lit. Consider the contrast between flicking a light switch to turn on a lamp with a slow, soft glow of candlelight. However, if you cannot have a traditional lit candle, consider using battery-powered tea instead.

Enjoy the Just Hygge experience before you have lit your candle by shopping for candlestick holders and placing them strategically around your home to prepare you for that first match strike.

Food to Share

The balance between healthy choices and yummy food is real, and you will decide where the metaphorical (or literal ) scales shift for you. A winter evening with the right candlelight and a blanket to snuggle under almost cries for something less than healthy… but again, balance is the key.

A pastry from a bakery

A piece of cake

Chopped fruits and nuts

Vegetable sticks

Biscuits

For even more Just Hygge, I refer to this as Hygge Plus; bake all the goodies yourself!

The Great Outdoors

It's not so great if you are cold and wet or your feet hurt, compounding your misery. The British obsession with the weather should mean we are always prepared… no judgement here.

Walking has so many benefits. The environment is always a consideration in contrast to a fuel-filled vehicle as a passenger or driver, and there are mental health and well-being feelings.

With suitable clothes and the right attitude, you can soon adopt the mantra, "There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes".

Going outside in all weathers, with suitable clothes and an appropriate attitude, you will feel a massive sense of accomplishment when you return to your Just Hygge and cosy home with all the winter delights to indulge in.

Start where you are with the clothes and equipment you have, and slowly build up your collection so you are ready for all weather.

Home – Sweet – Home

I am a huge advocate of 'it's never the place but the people who create the right atmosphere' for enjoyable and sociable times.

A Just Hygge lifestyle focuses on curated communities and social circles. In winter, spending time socialising with loved ones is even more enjoyable. The caveat here is that the time spent together will be in your home or as a guest in someone else's home. The sense of belonging is enhanced with home-cooked food and a gathering of like-minded souls taking precedence over eating out or even taking away food. Again, the less is more philosophy prevails; with close friends and family members as part of your gathering, the relaxed, cosy feeling you are seeking is there for enjoyment.

Entertainment With Ease and Flow

The cost of living crisis across the world is here to stay for at least a while. With all the negative connotations associated with this fact, it is time to shift to a new perspective with a Just Hygge flavour. Consider learning a new skill that can be useful to others and has little financial impact.

This year, I am knitting squares to turn into a blanket. I know how to knit and am teaching all I come across to start knitting using the basic knit stitch.  

If you don't feel crafty, then I recommend a board game. Candlelight, soft music, and sitting around a table sharing an evening is nothing short of Just Hygge. No screens in sight to entertain and best but mostly distract from time spent together. I suggest games without an overt competitive element or are noisy at their core. However, I appreciate that there will always be an element of winning and losing!

A Just Hygge Christmas will be next on the list (the good one), and I am looking forward to experiencing and sharing here soon.

Embrace the slow times and gentle living and lean into valuing this special space a little more than the busy times with the Just Hygge philosophy of intentionally living with ease and flow.

Hayley McDonnell is a passionate advocate of the just Hygge philosophy, living each day with intention and ease and flow at its core. A former teacher/middle manager of 24+ years, she has worked through several transitions and continues to do so. 

A mother, wife, friend, sister, daughter and so on; despite these guises, the one golden thread that runs throughout is the desire to be happy and live a life of truth. This is where the concept of Hygge takes prominence.

Hayley hopes her blogs provide a conduit for sharing the Hygee lifestyle and the benefits of 'Nothing Much Happens Here'. You can contact her here.