meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Life Kit

How to actually look forward to winter

Life Kit

NPR

Health & Fitness, Self-improvement, Kids & Family, Education, Business

4.33.9K Ratings

🗓️ 24 November 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Winter tends to get a bad rap: people complain endlessly about its shorter days, darker skies and plummeting temperatures. It's true that parts of winter can be unpleasant, but psychologist Kari Leibowitz, author of How to Winter: Harness your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days, says that winter can also be a time of reflection, creativity and coziness. This episode, Leibowitz shares tips on learning to appreciate winter's unique opportunities. This episode originally published Dec. 9, 2024.

Follow us on Instagram: @nprlifekit
Sign up for our newsletter here.
Have an episode idea or feedback you want to share? Email us at [email protected]
Support the show and listen to it sponsor-free by signing up for Life Kit+ at plus.npr.org/lifekit

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This message comes from TED Talks Daily, a podcast from TED, bringing you new ideas every day through TED Talks and conversations.

0:08.2

Learn about the ideas shaping humanity, from connecting with your inner monologue to unlocking healthy love.

0:14.7

Listen to TED Talks Daily.

0:17.3

You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

0:23.9

Hey, everybody. You're listening to Life Kit from NPR. Hey everybody, it's Mariel.

0:27.1

You know, I feel like certain months and seasons just have a really good marketing team.

0:32.7

Like, everybody loves fall, the colored leaves, the pumpkin spice, everything, the magic of Halloween.

0:39.4

And my God, the way people talk about summer, as if it's just a string of perfect days, we spend

0:44.5

basking in the sunshine, eating popsicles, going to the beach with friends. The truth is,

0:51.0

every season comes with its own indignities. Like the amount of time I've spent standing on a subway platform in 95-degree heat,

0:59.0

sweating bullets and scratching my mosquito bites while I wait for the train.

1:03.0

But we ignore all that, choosing to think of some seasons as this romantic ideal.

1:07.7

And then we don't extend the same courtesy to winter, especially January and February.

1:13.4

When we imagine winter, we imagine it based on its worst day.

1:18.4

So we imagine the coldest, wettest, windiest, darkest day, even when that day is not the norm.

1:27.8

Carrie Leibowitz grew up on the Jersey Shore.

1:30.2

It's a summer destination.

1:31.5

And she says, on the Jersey Shore, everybody knows.

1:34.9

Winter sucks.

1:36.2

It is this cultural knowing and it's such an ingrained knowing that it doesn't feel like an

1:43.1

opinion.

1:43.7

It feels like a fact, right?

...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 3 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.