Finding Joy in wintertime

Winter has barely even started here in Scotland and already it’s so cold. We’ve had our first flurries of snow, the heating is on and the winter duvets are on the beds. It’s the season of warm soups, hats and gloves, woolly jumpers and far too often those awful winter bugs and viruses.

The two week long Christmas and new year break from school, the dark nights, and the isolation due to the weather often makes winter the hardest season for my family. As I look back at the year that’s just finished my mind quickly seems to go to the new diagnosis we added on, the new medications I now have to administer daily and the piles of paperwork that came with having two additional needs children.

Winter can feel like the longest, hardest season and it can really affect anyone’s mental health, especially parent carers of children, young people and adults with disabilities. The isolation, the difficulties of leaving the house in wet or cold weather, and the intensity of trying to keep your child or children well when colds and viruses are rife all take their toll.

Joy can often be the hardest thing to find as the days get shorter and the nights get longer.

Yet when you start looking for it joy can be found in the simplest of places and in the everyday situations.

· The kindness of charities in giving your child a gift at Christmas.

· The brightness in your child’s eyes as they see lit up houses as you drive.

· The innocent beauty of watching your child touch snow again that they had forgotten even existed.

· The thankfulness of having your child at home beside you instead of in a hospital bed.

· The compassion of doctors, nurses, paediatricians, social workers and even strangers as they smile, hold a door open or just hold your child’s hand.

· The gratefulness of teaching and support staff who have worked tirelessly with your child all year.

· The simple miracle of seeing your child try a new food.

· A Christmas card from family reminding you that you aren’t alone.

Sure winter can be long, cold, full of anxiety and financially stretching but all the more reason to find joy in every day wherever you can. Sing jingle bells in January if it makes your child laugh, sneak a chocolate coin after breakfast, read to your child in a silly voice, stop and look at those pretty lights…and touch that snow like it’s your first time feeling it again.

Life is hard but finding joy will make it that bit easier especially in the long dark weeks of winter.