January 26, 2021
How to have a positive wintertime mindset?
“There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.”
—— Alfred Wainwright
As a newcomer to Sweden, the first winter seems to be hard for me. I came from the middle of China, where winter is not always cold though sometimes the temperature gets below zero and snow falls down. Despite that, I’m still not a big fan of winter. So, when I decided to come to Sweden, I talked to myself many times that winter is not bad and I will be fine. However, it turns out I do not realize that the social restriction due to the COVID-19 would make the long winter of cold weather longer and colder. Right now, because our courses are all shifted from campus to online, I can not see people at random or meet new friends. Even going to the city center, you can not walk into shop freely because of the restricted number of each shop. So how to survive and actually thrive in such extreme and unusual conditions? To find the answers to this question, I have tried several ways since last months. And I’m happy that I can share my precious experience with you guys!
First and foremost, focus on what you can control and try to make the best of a bad situation. So if you hate how early it gets dark out, you can try to focus instead on how it’s a chance to light candles and get cozy earlier, how it might help you get to bed earlier – something I’m forever trying and failing to do – or even how it can be nice to watch the sunset from your window while you’re working. Also, I did not really like snow before, but after thinking this way, I now start to appreciate the beauty of snow. Instead of focusing on being freezing in the snow, I look on the bright side that I can seize this opportunity to do things I like such as taking photos. If I did not get rid of my simple, old, negative mindset, I could have not got those beautiful snow views as follows.
Well, in the end, I hope we all can enjoy this winter under the pandemic situation. There are many things we can not do, but there are some other things waiting for us to explore and try. Just let your mindsets have room for complexity, shaking those negative thoughts off!!!
