Autumn is fading into winter in the northern hemisphere. The pandemic still rages. Social distancing hobbies can help keep us focused during the chilly days of winter, when nights are long and our restlessness is strong. When the pandemic first pushed us indoors, my feeds were flooded with images and stories of people making the best of an unprecedented situation, diving back into pursuits they’d loved as kids or discovering new hobbies for the first time. We need to recaptur

We have entered the chilly season here in the Midwest, a time when the days are dark and often our moods are too. Cooped up inside for longer than we’d like, that feeling of ennui — that familiar listlessness and mild dissatisfaction that seems to lack a direct cause — can creep up on us. But winter is also a great time for nesting, for introversion, for creativity, and solitude. These things can refocus and replenish us. And ennui isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can be our