Letter 6 : Slow winter living

I have always felt that winter is a special season though I can never quite decide whether I resist it or love it more.

It’s a quiet love–hate relationship, the kind where you complain a little… but secretly wouldn’t want it any other way. 🙏🏻

There’s the cold that truly gets into you sometimes so deep it feels like your bones are frozen. The tiny rain that’s too light for an umbrella but still somehow manages to soak you. The grey days that stretch a little longer than we’d like.

And yet, winter also brings those mornings when snow falls in big, silent flakes. When the sky turns bright blue and the sun reflects on the white ground, making everything feel softer, calmer, almost magical. ❄️

The world seems wrapped in a blanket of quiet.

That’s exactly how this first winter in Oslo feels to me.

It reminds me so much of my childhood winters, when my siblings and I lived in the Jura mountains in France. Some days there was so much snow that the school bus could barely make it through. We would arrive late, cheeks red from the cold, ringing the doorbell and laughing. These memories come back to me often, like little flashes of warmth inside the cold.

I love the idea that seasons like this quietly create new memories.

From my window here, I can see the mountains and the snow without even stepping outside.

Just that view calms something deep inside me. It makes me dream more, imagine more, create more. Winter slows everything down and somehow, in that slowness, it opens space.

Lately, I’ve been noticing how much comfort lives in small winter rituals.

I make myself the best warm drink when I arrive at work. These days it’s a mix of espresso, chocolate, ginger, collagen and warm milk. It feels less like a drink and more like a hug in a cup. ☕️

I choose comfort in my clothes, unapologetically. Big sweaters, soft layers, wool hats, sturdy boots. I may not be very fashionable in winter, but I feel deeply comfortable and that changes everything. Even outside, inside my coat, I feel safe and warm.

This is also the first winter where I truly take vitamins every day. I never really did before, but here everyone insisted and now I understand why. It helps more than I expected, both for energy and mood.

It’s a small act of care that makes the season feel gentler.

I also notice I do less than in summer. When it gets dark early and I come home, there is simply no part of me that wants to go back out. So instead, I choose a few things each week that truly matter, and I often do them right after work while I still have energy.

Winter teaches me to be more intentional with my time.

But one thing never changes : I go outside every single day. Even if it’s just a 20-minute walk. Fresh air, light, movement are little reminders that it’s essential for both my body and my mind.

Winter doesn’t ask us to do more.

It invites us to do things differently.

To move slower.

To seek warmth.

To find beauty in quiet moments.

And maybe that’s why, despite the cold and the grey days, I always end up loving it a little more than I expected. ✨