My friend Anne Bogel has written for the past 6-7 years about what is saving her life…and always halfway through the winter. It’s a question modeled on a question from Barbara Brown Taylor—an author whose book The Preaching Life I’m actually reading right now.

I suffer every year from Seasonal Affective Disorder, and my primary care physician has mentioned that SAD generally gets worse as we age. He said Mike and I might start planning now to try to get South for at least part of the winter when we’re older—because we’re both miserable at this point of the year. That’s a daunting thing to imagine, especially when we’re saving for college (and much lesser expenses even). But, these few easier things are making a marked improvement for me right now.

Without much more ado, I’ll get it.

1. White Walls. If you follow me on Instagram, you know that we had painters (and the stomach flu!) here the entire first week of the year, dawn til dusk. They painted every vertical surface of the house white, and now the light dances around during the days whether it’s sunny or gray. It’s been SO NICE to be in our new house with taller ceilings, bigger windows, and as much as I’ve mourned our yardful of mature trees…I’m loving all the light that comes in unobscured.

2. Iced Blueberry Coffee. My local coffee shop roasts their own coffee and they have a variety called Blueberry Crumble. It’s a delight. I brew a pot at night and by the morning it’s cool and ready to enjoy. When I put the coffee on to brew, I also fill my giant tumbler with ice and tuck it into the refrigerator. That way in the morning, the ice clanging from the ice-maker into my metal coffee cup doesn’t wake up the whole house and ruin my pin-drop quiet. But, the fact that it’s iced is key because full-caffeine cold coffee doesn’t make me jittery like half-caff hot coffee does.

3. Reading fiction. Gotta get out of my head, off of social media, and dive deep into a story. Nothing more than that. I’m happier when I’ve got a fiction book going—and I’d be smart to just always keep one on deck. When I don’t have the next one picked out and lined up I’ll dawdle to get started again. I did hear a tip to try to get 10% into your fiction book in the first sitting…that way you’ll be sucked in and want to pick it back up rather than rereading the same page nineteen times wondering why you can’t get into it. I’ve found this makes a real difference! You can read my recent book reviews here.

4. Lighting candles at about 3pm. I think it’s because I’ve always been creative—but my eye often understands something I don’t always know intellectually. In the middle of the afternoon in the middle of winter, the house always starts to feel a little wompy and gray. It’s like the quality of light has changed the quality of my enjoyment of the room. So, I pull out the lighter and light up a little lazy susan of candles I have on my kitchen island. Then, I walk straight to our entryway and light a little cluster of candles I have sitting there, too. It warms up the light a little bit and by the time Mike gets home the house smells like a cozy delight. It just makes me feel better and is a little ritual I never plan but find myself actually craving in my body.

5. Soups! I make at least one pot of soup per week, always in my instant pot. It’s super quick and soup is generally cheap. It warms everyone up and feels cozy. I like to think it makes everyone feel cared for, and I appreciate that soup is generally healthful and filling. It just feels appropriate when it’s cold and dark to make something warm and comforting.