Simple Guide to Beating Winter Blues for Christian Women

A peek inside this post: Are you looking for ways to escape the winter blues? This season can definitely take its toll on your mood and productivity, but a little self care for winter blues will help to perk you up and make you feel like yourself. Read our guide to beating winter blues for Christian women and get back to being your awesome self!

Living in the Midwest can be pretty gray and kind of sad in the winter. It’s not for the faint of heart and can be a time of some serious winter blues. I have heard that the end of January and beginning of February can be some of the most depressing days of the year.

If you are anything like me, you are missing the sunshine on these shorter days. The holidays are over, and you are assessing how you’ve been doing with your New Year’s resolutions. (If you need help in this area, read New Year Spiritual Goals for Christian Women.)

All of these things can add up to some big feelings. I am not a therapist, and I am not diagnosing any of us.

If you are feeling lost, overly (out-of-the-norm) stressed, sad, discontent, sluggish, depressed, tired, and just not feeling yourself, please call a counselor or someone that you can confide in. If you don’t know of one, call your local church and I am sure they can point you in the right direction.

I highly recommend counseling and the help and healing that brings. Reach out for help if you need it. It will be worth it!

This information is not to take the place of counseling, but to help those of us dealing with the ”blah” and general winter blues that happen during the winter months.

Check out our self care for winter blues ideas and get out of this funk!

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Self Care for Winter Blues

It doesn’t matter what the temperature is outside, we have all found ourselves in dark, cold, and lonely seasons.

Here are just a few remedies that might help us women survive the winter blues.

1| Listen to worship music.

When we keep our eyes fixed on worshiping God, then we’re not focused on the things that we can’t control.

I have created worship lists on my Pandora app. Hoopla is a free library app that also has downloadable worship albums. My current favorites come from Hillsong and Elevation Music, but I also love a good hymn as well.

2| Take vitamins.

I suggest checking to see if you are deficient in vitamin b12 and/or vitamin D.

For me, I added a liquid vitamin b12, and my doctor mentioned that most of us in the Midwest (and most of the United States) are vitamin D deficient. Adding these to my diet this year has helped so much.

B12 helps with balance and a boost of natural energy, which has been better for me than adding a couple extra cups of coffee. I have found that too much caffeine can make me jittery and anxious.

Anyone else notice that too much caffeine makes you anxious too? We definitely don’t need to add anxiety when we are already struggling with the blues, right?!

Here is my favorite vitamin b12:

And HERE are amazing tips on adding Vitamin D to your diet naturally.

3| Exercise and eat healthier.

Get in some exercise. Any kind will do.

There are days when I have just walked laps around my basement just to get a workout in. Find ways to move your body to work up a sweat and to get your body out of a rut. We have some great resources for you if you follow us on Pinterest!

Just making a few small changes to your eating and exercising adds up to a big difference. The key is to focus on the positives. Enjoy yourself and have fun. Feel yourself being happy and strong.

These things don’t come overnight, but even one big healthy salad can make you feel pretty good about yourself. Enjoy those moments.

>> Read Family Workouts or Healthy Family Habits that Stick

4| Use essential oils.

I am a big fan of essential oils. I don’t sell them, but I really love how they help me stay healthy and keep my house smelling fresh and clean. They also help with my mental state.

I rub orange right on my wrists and it helps me have a burst of energy and happiness from the first sniff. There are so many blends that help uplift the soul, but my favorites are:

• Stress Away
• Joy
• Orange
• Christmas Spirit (I use it all year round, because I’m a rebel like that)

5| Give happiness away.

This past Christmas, my parents, kids, siblings, nieces and I all planned a scavenger hunt to collect urgent needs for our local homeless shelter. It was such a fun scavenger hunt, but the best part was taking the goods in and seeing the staff members’ faces and hearing the exciting things they had to say.

They were so happy and so thankful. How can we be sad when we’re making others happy?

I’m currently doing a book study with our Thursday night group called, “How Happiness Happens” by Max Lucado. The main idea of the book is: “Happiness happens when we give it away.”

A challenge for each one of us is to find a way to share happiness with someone each day. It doesn’t have to cost money, but it needs to be something that will brighten someone’s day.

Here are just a few ways to give away happiness. Let us know if you know of others!

• Make a plan to smile at every single person you come across today.
• Pay for the person’s coffee behind you in the drive thru line.
• Go on social media just to post 5 positive comments instead of mindless scrolling.
• Make someone dinner that could use a little pick-me-up.
• Call a local nursing home to see if anyone could use a visit.
• Check with a local pet shelter and see if there are any pets that could use some love.
• Pick up the phone and call someone you haven’t talked to in a while.
• Invite people over for coffee that you know have been left out before.
• Call your local homeless shelter to see what their immediate needs are.
• Ask a friend how you can pray for them.
• Help someone unload their groceries into their car.

These are just a few options, but I hope they spur each one of us to create our own list of ways to make others happy. I promise you, it will fill your soul and your winter blues will feel a little (or a lot) sunnier.

>> Read Spreading Joy on My Birthday

6| Talk to a friend.

Sometimes, just knowing we aren’t alone helps so much. It is so important to find connection, especially when you’re feeling the winter blues. I have been reminded lately that when I feel disconnected, I am usually the one to disconnect myself.

>>>Maybe you and your friends would like to do this devotion on biblical self care together!

I know that there are groups that don’t invite us to participate in fun nights out, or we see things on social media that we didn’t get included in, and that hurts. We have all been there, but we have to remember that feeling so we don’t cause that to someone else.

Be the one who invites others into your circle.

>> Read Christian Hospitality Ideas and WHY It’s So Important

When we are busy celebrating life with others, then the sting doesn’t quite feel the same. We can just stay in the lane we are in and not worry about what is going on around us.

7| Get connected to community.

My hubby is a small groups pastor at our church, and I love his job. I love standing behind him and cheering him on, but I don’t just support him blindly. One of the biggest reasons I support him is because of how much I believe in groups, connection, and community.

Finding people who are running the same race as you can be such a gift. Whatever the need is, the group can rise up to meet it.

In a group, you can sit back and just listen, or you can be the loud one. You can cry and know you are being prayed for. You can share your answered prayers, knowing you have people celebrating with you.

I have seen meals taken care of for new mamas, a mama who was walking her child through cancer treatment, a mama surviving her husband’s deployment, and for amazing single mamas who didn’t need a handout, but just a little joy in the midst of their week.

I don’t know about anyone else, but just having the burden of cooking dinner lifted off me for even one night is such a gift! 

It is scary to let your guard down and let people in, but almost every time the risk is worth the reward. Especially if you go in looking for ways to give and to help others connect too.

8| Rest.

Never underestimate the power of rest. If God rested a full day after creation, then we can assume that resting would be good for us too, right?

>> Read Resting in God’s Grace: a Quick Guide for Moms

The cold and the dark days make us tired and it’s a beautiful thing to take a nap to refresh your body.

Take an epsom salt bath (using some of those essential oils) and let your body get refreshed.  Read a book just for fun. Paint your toenails.

Do something that gets your feet up and keeps the pressure off. Your mind and your body will thank you!

9| Choose joy.

One of my friends recently told me that she just wasn’t feeling joy in her life. She really wanted to, but she said to me, “Joy isn’t something you just have, it’s something God gives, and I am asking for it over my marriage, my parenting, my work, and my whole life.”

I have been thinking about this a lot. The winter blues can really steal our joy. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit and if we spend time in the Spirit, then we receive the fruit.

Also, Nehemiah 8:10 reminds us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. While I believe that we receive joy, I think that we can also choose to grab hold of it in everything we do.

>> Read A Challenge for Women: Choosing Joy through Grief

What are your Favorite ways to Escape the Winter Blues?

If you are a Christian woman facing the winter blues, I am sorry! It is hard to walk around feeling cold, tired, and sad, but there are definitely things we can do to put the spring back in our step.

Let’s get out there and see the winter blues melt away! Please share your favorite ways to escape the winter blues in the comments below.

Read Also:

15 Simple Solutions When You’re in a Funk or Feeling Blah Little things that add up to a better-feeling you!

Soul Care for Women: The Recharge You Need More great ideas that go beyond self care to truly nurture your soul!

How to Go from Emotional Wreck to Confident Christian Woman in 3 Steps God has called you to be confident in who you are and whose you are!

The Thief of Joy Avoid the comparison trap. It builds so many walls between you and others!

Best Christian Podcasts for Moms with a Busy Schedule Check out the podcasts on this list that focus on self-care!

Simple Guide to Beating Winter Blues for Christian Women