Busy, Yet Pretty - Beat the Winter Blues — Simple Ways to Stay Productive and Romanticize the Season

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

As the colder months settle in, it’s easy to slip into a slump and feel the winter blues creeping up. You’re not alone. In this episode, host Jadyn Hailey shares simple, effective ways to shake off that seasonal slowdown, boost your productivity, and truly enjoy the magic of winter. From cultivating a positive mindset to romanticizing everyday moments, this conversation is your cozy guide to thriving through the season. Grab an iced peppermint mocha latte and press play—you’ll leave feeling refreshed and inspired.Instagram:  Jadyn's IG & Busy, Yet Pretty IG Busy, Yet Pretty GroupchatTiktok: @FairyJadynMy Amazon Storefront: Jadyn's StorefrontSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello, my love. Welcome to the Busy Yet Pretty Podcast. I'm your host, Jaden Haley. If you are new here, welcome, and I'm so happy to have you. But if you're not new here and you know how this works, thank you for always tuning in. And I hope you just are having a lovely day. But let's cut to the chase. Today's episode is one that I really love because during the colder months, it is just natural for us to feel more down and less productive. And it's not necessarily that we need to be more productive achieve more but we need to be productive for ourselves to make ourselves feel better because throughout the colder months we can just feel so down and into slumps and we need to pull ourselves out of that. So whether you're someone who is snowed in right now and it's really cold where you're at

or it's not even necessarily snowing but just it's cold where I'm at in California is definitely not snowy. True fact. I've actually never seen snow in my life but hopefully. hoping to make that change this month. But whatever it may be, a majority of the time, we just are more reserved and staying in and hibernating. And while it is perfect to hibernate during the winter, we do need to make sure we are still being productive for our own mental health and how we feel throughout the day. So that's what we're going to tune into this episode. In the meantime, to give a little weekly recap, I've had a cold this past week and there is nothing more annoying than a cold, especially having a cold.

a cold with my HEDS, which I think I talked briefly about in the past episodes, but I was officially diagnosed with hypermobile Eller's Danlo's syndrome plus dysonomia. And those two things have been really, of course, wearing on my body. It's been my entire life the past, you know, half of the year. And I've never had a cold with this yet. So it just has been not the funnest thing. I have been trying to prioritize things I love. One of the things I've been loving to do is just go shopping in the evenings for gifts for Christmas. I just find so much happiness in shopping for things for people. And I've been wrapping presents, which I may be kind of early to. I know like end of November, early December is very early to do that. But to me, I just find so much happiness in doing it. So I've

been really trying to lean into that. Another side note is I have started a new vitamin routine. and being really consistent on it. I've gotten these cute little new vitamin cases for the morning and evening. And I swear it's been making me take my vitamins more and just be excited to take my vitamins because it's the cutest case. I linked it on my Shop My. It's in my Instagram bio. If you go to my Instagram bio, then you can go to my Shop My.

But anyways, I have lots of good. Also, like, sales that are all my favorite things I've been loving. A lot are on sale right now. So if you go to my shop, my feel free to go look through my favorite home, beauty, hair, and room favorites. But anyways, back to my vitamins. I just have been feeling so excited to take my vitamins because of this cute case. Also, I've gotten a new desk and chair. And I swear when you start to, like, redo your home in office space, it just makes you feel so much more put together.

And I really recommend you just have a little refresh on that before the new year because it's, It's going to make you feel so much more productive and you're going to want to be at your desk and at your workspace. Anyways, without further ado, let's get into today's episode, which I absolutely love, and we're going to get productive throughout these colder months. It's time for us to get into talking about the guide to staying productive during the colder months and just navigating the winter blues, also known as winter depression or seasonal depression disorder. With the colder months, times can get tough and you may feel lonely, isolated, quiet, longing because you're not going out. You're just too cold. You're too tired to get up in the morning. Or maybe you're just not feeling very productive.

Or maybe you're someone who struggles with a little deeper than that. And it's deeper than just the winter blues, such as winter depression. Regardless of what length you have of being in a slump during the winter or how sad you are, or your depression, whatever length it goes to, it is very important that you try your best and try your best effort to understand that the winter blues and winter depression is temporary and to try not to let that get to you. One of the biggest reasons we become unproductive and down is sluggish in the winter is because we feel trapped inside and we lack structure, which is our routines and our schedule. Right now, you need to make your environment a place that you want to be in. Since you're inside, mostly during these colder months, you need to shape

your room, your apartment, and your home to be a place that you actually love to be. It's very tempting to just take the easy way out of not being on schedule by sleeping in all day or not getting daily movement or just not getting out of your pajamas because you're too cold. But those little excuses and those little things you're doing to use as an excuse from being productive or doing your regular schedule is may feel good in the moment. It's going to feel good in the moment to knock it out your pajamas or to lay in bed all day. So it's going to feel good in the moment, but when it comes down to it, that poor routine of yours and that negative mindset is going to be your downfall and what pulls you down. Do you realize that so much stems from your own doing

and your own decisions? And that's not going to say that depression is caused by everything you do whatsoever. That is not the case. There's things that cause depression that isn't always in your control for sure. But when it comes to feelings of just the winter blues or you being in a slump, what you do and your actions can dictate how you feel. If you choose to lay in bed all day and do nothing but watch TV and just wallow in bed how sad you are that it's not sunny outside and you can't go outside, your action and that mindset is not whatsoever going to help your situation. The only thing that's going to do is bring you down even more. But if you just take even the slightest action in the positive direction, that is going to do you so much more help than anything can. That positive

thought and action being you creating a routine and a schedule that you're excited to wake up to. Maybe it's too cold to do your morning workout or to do your morning run. So instead, maybe go take a walk in the evening or go exercise in the evening. But as I say that, I just do want to say a random little note is that be cautious when you go out and especially when you go take your walks and everything because it is just so sad the situations of girls who are kidnapped and trafficked and just recent situations such as the lake and riley case i just think is so terribly sad so really make sure that you are protected and protecting yourself when you go on walks and it's always nice to have someone else that can go in a walk with you but as i was saying instead of laying all day

watching TV in bed, watch one episode, and then get up and start your day. There's little things where you don't have to cut out everything. I'm not saying, that's the one thing I'm trying to say, is do not have the all or nothing mindset. The all or nothing mindset is going to push you down way further.

Don't try to aim for perfection, instead aim for progress. Because let me just tell you, trying to go full force and do the all or nothing mindset, you're going to quit by the end of the day. It is too hard and not fulfilling. and it's not going to be able to be consistent. You can't keep that up.

Trying to always aim for 100 each day is not going to leave you happy, satisfied, or productive. It's not. So instead, aim for what you can do. It's important when starting your self-care routine to combat the blues and the slump is to set realistic expectations. So if you make a full 10-step daily goal, you're going to be disappointed every day. When doing this, set realistic goals for your day and reward yourself when you achieve them. Something that can help excite you to begin getting back up and getting productive is to remind yourself of your goals.

Take time to sit down to write on a page or just think to yourself, what is your purpose? What is your goals and why are you doing this? When you have your passion and have your why is what's going to beat the drive to achieve your goals. because if you don't have a why or a purpose, then there's no point. You have no excitement towards it. You have no purpose. You're just forcing yourself to do this. But if you want to, you know, start working out more, why do you want to start working out more?

It's because you want to feel stronger. If you want to start learning another language, why do you want to start learning another language? It's because you want to start traveling more and knowing how to speak in that language when you travel. Start really thinking of your why when you feel unmotivated to actually take action on this and you know there's some task that aren't very fun that you have to do maybe that's cleaning the house but still you have a why behind that your why is because you want to go to bed with a clean house if you think of homework okay you need to get your homework done what's your why well you're thinking i don't have a why or a passion to get it done your why and your passion is so you get good

grades there's always a why behind something there's always passion behind something but you really just have to take a second and to ask yourself and that's can be one of the biggest motivators to achieving it. I can't be the only one who has this like dream item of theirs that they always see, whether it's a bag, a sweater, a top, and you're like, I just need that, but it's like sold out everywhere. That's me with this one, vintage Dunian Burke bag. I literally was looking everywhere for it and I somehow found one on a poshmark. But not just one, I found multiple of them at such a good price and I was like, wait, this is just too good to be true.

So if you know me, you know I am a Poshmark girl. Poshmark is a marketplace where you can list and sell, as well as buy. New items, vintage pieces, gently used, luxury pieces. They really just have it all. And I feel like there's no better time to go on Poshmark now. Everyone's cleaning out their closet and listing good things. Get in bed, get cozy, and go on Pashmark to add to your new spring wardrobe. New deals and sales are listed every day, so don't wait.

Download the Poshmark app and use Code Busy when you sign up to get $10 off your first purchase. or shop now at poshmark.com slash busy and get $10 off your first purchase. That's P-O-S-H-M-A-R-K dot com slash busy. I can't be the only one who has this like dream item of theirs that they always see, whether it's a bag, a sweater, a top, and you're like, I just need that, but it's like sold out everywhere. That's me with this one, vintage, Duny and Burke bag. I literally was looking everywhere for it and I somehow found one on a Poshamark.

But not just one. I found multiple of them. such a good price and I was like, wait, this is just too good to be true. So if you know me, you know I am a Poshmark girl. Poshmark is a marketplace where you can list and sell, as well as buy new items, vintage pieces, gently used, luxury pieces. They really just have it all. And I feel like there's no better time to go on Poshmark now. Everyone's cleaning out their closet and listing good things. Get in bed, get cozy, and go in Pashmark to add to your new spring wardrobe. New deals and sales are listed every day, so don't wait. Download the Poshmark app.

and use code busy when you sign up to get $10 off your first purchase or shop now at poshmark.com slash busy and get $10 off your first purchase. That's P-O-S-H-M-A-R-K dot com slash busy. If you have been around for a while, you know the story with my podcast where I almost didn't start it, which is crazy to me because to think that I wouldn't have been where I am today if I didn't start, all the what ifs and doubts can just add up and be the one thing stopping you between you and getting the dream that you want. And let's say starting a business is you. And you want that dream business of yours.

You have the idea, but all your what ifs and doubts can add up and feel so overwhelming. But one of the best things that's going to help you get through that roadblock of what ifs is having help and assistance. That's why if you're thinking about starting a business, start it with Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S. From household names like Jimshark to al-Yoka to brands just getting started. I love Shopify because it just helps in all aspects of your business, from product photography

to marketing to managing orders. They really just cover it all. And if you get stuck in the process, don't worry. They have 24-7 customer support, which is so needed. So with that said, it's time you launch fast perfect later. And it's time for you to turn those what-ifs into with Shopify today. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash busy yet pretty. Go to shopify.com slash busy yet pretty.

That's shopify.com slash busy yet pretty. Another thing you can do is start your mornings with a Pinterest scroll or a YouTube productive day of my life video. Truly, that can be one of the most motivating things. To me, I just love going on Pinterest and it just gives me some motivation or maybe listen to a podcast episode. You can even re-listen to episodes. that make you feel motivated that you can just save and come back to when you need that motivation.

So maybe start your morning off with a Pinterest scroll or a YouTube video while you eat your cinnamon oatmeal and drink your Earl Grey tea. Remember, you have to romanticize your winter, romanticize your time. And when it comes to scrolling on Pinterest or looking at a YouTube video, it can actually be so motivating to see someone else being productive and living the life that you want because it can inspire you and motivate you to take action. When I see a girl living in her mansion with her business, that right there, her lifestyle and me looking at that

motivates me to work hard because I'm like, wait, she's doing it. I definitely can do it and I want to take action to have that lifestyle now. So use other people's success as your motivation and not your jealousy. Jealousy is not even in the question. I'm not even going to mention that because we don't get to. jealous, okay? We just get motivated and happy for others. So just take time to be excited for someone else and use that excitement for them, for their life, as your motivation. Now something that is so important is to prep ahead and do a favor for your future self. And that could be laying out your

gym clothes the night before to feel all prepared or meal prep your food in the beginning of the week so you can eat, you know, some healthy veggies. Lay out your skincare. for you for the next day tomorrow when you wake up and organize your Christmas playlist so you can turn it on every single morning. Coming prepared and preparing for your future self is going to be one of the biggest favors you can ever do for you because it's setting yourself up for it. You're all set up and it makes your future self have an easier time getting started. So when you wake up and you see your gym clothes out and everything's ready to go, it's so easy. All you do is put on your gym clothes and get started. You don't have to go find your gym clothes that are in the dirty laundry and go searching for them

and then you're just like, never mind, I'm not going to do any of this. Preparing is success. That goes to say, not every day is going to be a productive, exciting, or a happy day. When you're combating the winter slump and the winter blues, you're going to feel sad some days regardless of what you do. And those days where you feel sluggish or you have a down feeling, one of the best things you can do is to remember that you are not the only one feeling this way and this is not just you. So many of us worldwide struggle with the winter blues. That's why it's called the winter blues or seasonal depression because many of us feel that way. Many of us get down feeling because we can't go outside because of the weather or we feel trapped in.

We feel unmotivated. We feel lazy and we feel sad. That's why it's known and it's talked about. It's not just you. And one of the best other things you can remember is that this feeling you're having is temporary. That's why it's called the winter blues. Because when you get to spring, you may not be feeling that way. And when you're in summer, you may not be feeling that way.

And in fall, you may be feeling the best you ever have. But when you get to the winter, when the weather is all gloomy and dark and cold, you may be feeling that way. That's why it's called seasonal depression is because it's seasonal. So don't feel like you're the only one feeling that. this way. So many people are and even your best friends, your family, many of your closest people in your life may be feeling the exact same way. Another thing that you can do to just combat the winter blues is begin looking forward to the holidays. Begin being excited about the holidays and tune into the holiday spirit. So maybe think to yourself, what are you going to bake and cook for

Christmas or Hanukkah or what presents are you going to buy for everyone? Or what presents are you going to make for everyone. Are you going to do a DIY present? Are you going to write super thoughtful cards? As I mentioned in the beginning of this episode, you need to make your environment a place that you actually want to be in. And that environment is also known as your living space, which is your apartment, your house, your room, whatever it is, make that place a place that you want and love to be. Because most likely you're spending most of the time there being indoors. Maybe redecorate your place and make it a safe and comfort space for you. Reorganize and declutter to allow new space for the new for the upcoming year. Light a candle and put on your fairy lights or if you have no windows or no sun

lately you can get a sun lamp. Those help people so much. Thankfully it's not too cold and too dark in L.A. But if you do experience the colder dark winter months, it's very important you just get a sun lamp because it can help your body tune into your circadian rhythm. It's going to help your sleep because you're going to rise up with the sun and that sunlamp is going to help you work as a morning sunrise. Another thing is prioritized socializing and this does not have to take place outside in the cold. And also you can maybe socialize with someone who is experiencing the same type of thing as you, feeling in a slump or the winter blues. But go socialize and go to a cafe and go work together, and you guys can motivate each other and be held accountable.

Being able to just have someone in on your journey and be together, supporting each other, and holding each other accountable can be so helpful for both your career, your school, and your personal goals. Another thing that you can do for this winter season is start a new hobby. You can maybe pick up a new book or start painting or baking or maybe you have a business that you want to have, one day. So start reading into it and start learning about it. Also, something that's very important for the winter season, especially if you're experiencing the winter blues, is plan a fun activity or plan something to look forward to every single day. That is going to be your reason of getting out of the bed in the morning. That's going to be your reason of working hard all day to get

that reward at the end of the day. That could be watching your favorite show in the evening or eating your favorite dessert or being able to play your favorite game. If you're doing the same thing, every day such as laying in bed and watching TV and eating only junk food every single day, it's going to feel like your days feel like a broken record. Your days are going to begin to merge into one if you don't have difference and experience in your life. Prioritizing scheduling out experience and doing difference in your day to separate those days and not feel like they're merging into one or just a repetitive day because when you feel

like you're living a broken record is when you're going to start getting down and because you're not living, you're just feeling alive. Most importantly, give yourself grace. Again, this feeling, you're feeling about the winter blues is temporary and this unproductive feeling is temporary. So it is so important to remember that there's so many other beautiful people just like you on this earth that are in a slump and have the winter blues. You are not alone and be proud of yourself that you even want to take the step to trying to figure out how can you combat these blues or what can you do to be more productive? You are doing the most, so give yourself a pat on the back. And this winter, because I love and care about you so much, you need to provide for yourself,

take care of yourself, and plan for the future for the day the sun pokes out. I love you so unbelievably much and I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did recording it. I think it's very important that we talk about being unproductive in the winter blues during the winter season. So I want to know what do you do to combat the winter blues? If you listen over Spotify, you can drop it in the comment section or if you can please share over TikTok or Instagram and show me how you combat the winter blues while listening to this episode. Also, I'm so grateful for you, if you're here, and I'm so grateful, beyond grateful, for those who share the podcast over to your friends and your family and get other people on it because the thing that we all want to do

is become the best version of ourselves. And I just love helping others. And I just love helping others. I love hearing your guys' success stories, so I just want to give a big thank you for everything. And I hope you had the best Thanksgiving and the best time of just feeling gratitude. But anyways, long story short, you guys are the best. And I wish you a beautiful, amazing, happy, productive day ahead. Remember, the winter blues are temporary. Plan for your future for when the sun pokes out and do not forget to stay busy yet pretty. M-h-h-h.