Plan some winter adventures

season of year. I get cold easily, and the weather here in southeastern Pennsylvania is often dark and gloomy until about mid March. And yet I don't like the idea of wishing time away. I am not alone in this. Several years ago, I wrote a piece for Fast Company called The Norwegian Secret to Enjoying a Long Winter, and it became one of their most shared articles of the year. It seems a lot of us want to know how

to appreciate this time rather than simply endure it. One of the ways it seems that people in northern Norway make the most of winter is by enjoying the things you can only do in winter. Cross country skiing is certainly a huge thing there, and it makes sense. Being outside is a known mood booster, so it is physical activity.

If you can figure out how to combine the two, especially in activities that require cold weather, you can start viewing January and February as exciting months rather than terrible ones. The folks in northern Norway also appreciate the beauty of winter. Sometimes this is a more challenging, demanding beauty than a June rose garden, but it is a beauty none the less.

So as we face down the next two and a half months until spring, I mean, at least for those of us in colder northern climates, it might be worth figuring out how to plan some winter adventures that get us active or expose us to winter's beauty. I know a lot of people love skiing. I am not a skier, but if you are, or you have friends and family members who enjoy this, it can be a great winter activity.

Not all slopes are ridiculously pricey or difficult. We have a lot of little ski mountains and the Poconos that are well not that steep. Because the Poconos are not that high, little mountains like this could work as a day trip for people in this part of the world. Even when I lived in the rather flat Midwest, I know that there were at least a few small hills that became ski slopes for the winter. Some of these small hills also offer tubing, which can be really fun.

You don't need to have any skiing skills to get into a tube and let gravity slide you down the mountain. Speaking of sliding, if there is any snow in your part of the world, sledding is fun as an adult too. Buy a cheap sled, find a hill and enjoy swooshing down. Play your cards right, and you can be outside for maybe thirty minutes or so, and then come home to

warm and tasty beverages. It's just a little adventure, but I know that one of my most recent experiences of grinning ear to ear came while sliding down a snowy hill in my front yard. Snowshoeing and cross country skiing can work in places that have snow but don't have big hills, and even if you don't have snow cover, as long as it is cold, a trip to an outdoor ice skating rink can be tons of fun too.

My family goes to the rink by the river in downtown Philadelphia, and I always love swirling around the ice under the winter sky. This is something you cannot do in warm weather, and I do genuinely look forward to it. As for appreciating winter beauty, I always like looking at the sunrise and sunset. The sunrise tends to happen at a time you might see it given the shorter days, and with bare trees, the colors look even more pronounced.

Fresh snow makes a winter wonderland. But even if you don't have that, frost glistens, as does ice in ponds. Going on a winter walk in a place with lots of evergreens or holly with its berries can make for some stunning scenery. Of course, to have any adventure, which includes winter adventures, you need to plant ahead. I recommend a weekly planning session late in the week, such as on a Friday, looking ahead to the next min day

to Sunday week. You can then take a minute to look at the immediately upcoming weekend and tighten the plan you made a week prior based on the weather or new information. This helps with getting tickets or reservations for places, but also with managing energy, which is really important in winter. I know that I have never woken up on a winter Saturday morning and said, you know what, I want to argue with my kids to get off their iPads, bundle them into my car, drive downtown and get them

into rental skates. I need to know I plan to do this ahead of time. But then when I do have this as a plan and do it, I always have fun. Winter adventures, in particular, often require overcoming a bit of inertia. Your house is warm, the world is not, but soon you will be on the other side and have great memories to look back on. So think about what winter adventures you could plan, what would make you excited about the next few months, rather than just counting

days to spring. Winter is all about mindset, and with the right mindset, it is possible to have a lot of fun in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia.

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