The Winter Mindset: How Norwegians Love the Winter (And You Can Too)

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2024

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When people think about winter, they often focus on the negatives: the cold, the dark, and the seasonal depression the season can bring. But my guest today questions whether winter really has to be so miserable and says that by changing our mindset, we can actually learn to enjoy and even thrive during this season. Kari Leibowitz is a psychologist and the author of How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days. She spent a year at the northernmost university in the world in Tromsø, Norway, studying why people living in the Arctic, where the sun doesn't rise for two months, don't suffer from seasonal depression at the rates you might expect. Today on the show, Kari explains how our expectations can create a nocebo effect that makes winter feel worse than it needs to, why breaking winter into three distinct sub-seasons can help us appreciate it more, how Nordic practices like hygge can make darkness feel cozy rather than oppressive, and why getting outside and staying social — even when it's cold and dark — are keys to thriving during the season.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast.
0:11.4	When people think about winter, they often focus on the negatives, the cold, the dark,
0:16.1	and the seasonal depression the season can bring. But my guest today questions whether
0:20.2	winter really has to be so miserable and says that
0:22.8	by changing our mindset, we can actually learn to enjoy and even thrive during the season.
0:27.9	Carrie Liebowitz is a psychologist and the author of How to Winter.
0:31.4	Harness your mindset to thrive on cold, dark, or difficult days.
0:35.3	She spent a year at the northernmost university in the world in Trumse, Norway,
0:38.8	studying why people living in the Arctic, where the sun doesn't rise for two months,
0:42.4	don't suffer from seasonal depression at the rate you might expect.
0:45.5	Today in the show, Carrie explains how her expectations can create a nocebo effect
0:49.0	that makes winter feel worse than it needs to,
0:51.1	why breaking winter into three distinct sub-seasons can help us appreciated more,
0:55.3	how Nordic practices like Huga can make darkness feel cozy rather than oppressive,
0:59.6	and why getting outside and staying social, even when it's cold and dark, are keys to thriving during the season.
1:05.3	After the show's over, check out our show notes at a.com.is.
1:07.9	How to winter.
1:19.4	All right.
1:21.1	Carrie Leibolitz, welcome to the show.
1:23.3	Thanks so much for having me.
1:29.2	So you are a psychologist, and you came out of a book called How to Winter. It's about the winter mindset.
1:43.6	And you use this book to explore your research about how we think about winter and how our expectations of winter can influence how we experience and how this idea of expectations can carry over to other parts of her life.
	...

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