Seasonal Self-Care: 62 Activities for Fall and Winter
Posted: October 12, 2022
Everyone knows that when it comes to the fall and winter seasons in Michigan, we have one of two potential reactions, thrive or retreat. These seasons involve a decrease in sunshine and an abundance of weather, specifically rain, snow, and ice. Some people get excited when the weather changes – the coats come out, and the warmth of a campfire seems more alluring than ever. However, some of us experience a variety of seasonal aches, pains, breathing issues, and dips in affect when the temperatures drop. This can be challenging in a dual seasonal run that lasts five months out of the year! Something that often occurs during this time period is people experiencing seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which is a form of depression that is related to changes in the season according to mayoclinic.org. Many of the symptoms of SAD are depressive symptoms, such as feelings of hopelessness, emptiness, trouble concentrating, weight fluctuation, excessive sleeping, and low energy.
Using Behavioral Activation to Beat the Blues
Whether you might be struggling with SAD or just the winter blues, practicing self-care is essential to begin to balance out what you are experiencing during the cold months. One therapeutic intervention implemented by many of the therapists at Deepwater Counseling is something called behavioral activation. This technique uses activities in three categories to begin to break and eliminate a person’s cycle of depressive symptoms that come on during the fall and winter. The categories are pleasure, accomplishment, and social interaction. The idea is to start small over time and monitor how these activities impact you, building upon your activities list and focusing on the activities that help you the most. When you are using self-care activities, you are harnessing the power of behavioral activation.
What is Self-Care?
Self-care is the practice of regularly doing something for yourself, as a means to replenish energy, find comfort in, or provide a meditative moment. It can be easy to brush this practice aside in the busy lives we lead, especially in the new age of working from home, post-Pandemic. With lots of people working remotely, what tends to happen is we lose our serenity spaces in our homes because they are now associated with work. However, there are benefits as well, which include more time at home with the family, no commute, no gas, and opportunities to fit in more self-care.
The importance of using self-care during the colder months is essential to everyone’s continued health as the seasons change. But the truth is it can be harder to find ways to spend those self-care moments effectively during the fall and winter because as the weather changes, outdoor activities begin to become limited. However, many people lean into the seasonal activities or embrace the many indoor activities you can experience. Below are three separate self-care lists that provide choices during these months; the first two are seasonal specific and the last is full of indoor only activities.
Fall Activities
- Cider mills
- Corn mazes
- Camping
- Making chili
- Campfires/bonfires
- Go on an autumn leaf color tour
- Metropark or state park nature trails
- Have a Halloween movie marathon
- Drinking hot cider
- Haunted houses tour
- Go to a football game
- Pumpkin spice everything
- Make s’mores
- Rake the leaves in an elderly neighbor’s yard
- Tailgating at an outdoor sporting event
- Sledding
- Skiing
- Making a snowman
- Drinking hot chocolate
- Campfires/bonfires
- Have a Christmas movie marathon – Hallmark or traditional
- Snowball fight
- Stay in a snowy cabin for the weekend
- Caroling in your neighborhood or nursing homes
- Learn about a new winter holiday
- Shovel an elderly neighbor’s driveway
- Build a snow fort
- Snowshoeing
- Drive around and look at light displays
- Go ice skating
- Float therapy tanks
- Mall walking
- Gym membership
- Adult coloring books
- Buy postcards & send a loving note to someone
- Journaling
- Crossword or word search books
- Massage therapy
- Visit a bookstore or record store
- Thrift store shopping
- Axe throwing
- Bowling
- Indoor putt putt golf
- Indoor water parks
- Go to a live music venue
- Play board games
- Build a vision board
- Host a traveling dinner party with friends or family
- Museums
- Naps
- Puzzles
- Knitting or sewing
- Baking
- Taking a hot shower/bath
- Make a scavenger hunt for your kids
- Video games
- Yoga
- Indoor golf ranges
- Go see a movie at the movie theater
- Go roller skating
- Reading a book
- Listening to a podcast or audiobook