Winter Activities to Prioritize Recovery
Winter is such a magical time of the year – everything is crisper, brighter, and glowing! While many wintertime activities involve food and may be triggering to someone in recovery from an eating disorder, there are also many options for ways to stay occupied during the colder months.
Take a look at these four ideas and see which ones pique your interest!
Take A Snowy Walk
Bundle up and head outside! Walk through your neighborhood or through a nearby park and enjoy the beauty of the snow. If you don’t get snow where you live, walk around and see how calm and still life seems to become during winter. Try to see how many different trees, plants, or animals you can see in the nature around you. This is a great activity to help you feel present and grounded in case the winter season overwhelms you.
Make Some Winter Crafts
Paper snowflakes, anyone? This is a great time of year to make crafts to decorate your home or even to give as gifts during the holiday season. Make a garland with dried fruit and popcorn, try knitting or crocheting, or learn a new-to-you craft to keep you busy when it’s cold outside.
Enjoy a Winter Movie Marathon
Make your ultimate winter movie bucket list and create a plan to watch them. You can do this marathon-style or planned out over several days! Make this a fun activity with your friends or family, and really lean into the cozy nature of the winter season.
Try a Reading Challenge
It might be hard to convince yourself to go outside when it’s cold, but a reading challenge is a great way to explore other worlds without leaving the comfort of your home. Pick books set in places you’ve always wanted to visit or set during the summer for a mental vacation! You may even wish to choose nonfiction books to inspire your recovery.
While several activities in the winter center around traditional meals and food-focused gatherings, there are many ways to make the most of this season without losing sight of your recovery goals. Any of these activities can help you feel grounded, connected, and calm. Wishing you a festive, fun, and recovery-focused winter season from BALANCE!
BALANCE eating disorder treatment center™, located in New York City, offers free consultation calls to help you explore next steps. We provide in-person programming seven days a week and are in-network with UnitedHealthcare (UHC), Cigna, and Oscar, with Aetna coverage coming soon. Support is available, and recovery is possible. Schedule a free consultation call with our admissions team here and stay connected with BALANCE on Instagram here.
This post was written by BALANCE Blog Contributor, Korie Born (she/her).
Korie Born is an educator turned Intuitive Eating Counselor with passion for eating disorder treatment and recovery. She earned an undergraduate degree in French at Sonoma State University, then after several years teaching middle school French and English, pursued a Master’s Degree in Education specializing in the overlap between eating disorders and education. Korie has worked to ensure that students and her Intuitive Eating Counseling clients feel supported in making diet culture and disordered eating a thing of the past. As an educator, she honed her content creation skills to share about Intuitive Eating with students in different settings, and through curriculum development for multiple anti-diet and self-esteem boosting curricula for nonprofits in the field.
