(De)Motivation

What a beautiful winter’s day! Sunny, bright, crisp… yet very short. And for a person who is not a morning person, this is even worse. Why?

To understand the topic you have to understand the winter here in the Nordics. September is still all right, as the light starts to wane drastically, but it usually is dry-ish. Then comes October, which gets more wet, and darker. And then the ridiculous business with moving the clock backwards.

And November, which hits you like a ton of black bricks. Suddenly light is gone, constant rain or drizzle sets in and sucks the very life out of you like a vampire. If yoh have managed to hold on to your positivity and that “we can manage this!” attitude until November, it is soon gone. The only thing keeping you sane is Momondo and other travel booking websites.

The bleakness usually continues until towards the end of the year, or over the New Year’s before the deep winter sets in. Snow is much appreciated addition to the darkness as it makes the long winter night slightly more bearable as it reflects the light. And after the Winter Solstice the daylight starts to creep longer, minute by minute. And when you finally get to February, the days get sunnier, and the days are slightly longer. And you know that you have managed to survive yet another winter in this inhospitable, cold, dark are of the globe.

What About the Topic?

As said, you have to understand the Nordic, or Finnish winter before you can understand what I am talking about. And now that you have a rudimentary idea about the darkness over light, you might get my point.

Winters here are not for living, they are to be survived. In ages past, towards the spring, people survived with the last morsels of stored foods from the last year, hoping for the spring to start. Today, people who have experienced living abroad, wish they were somewhere else where there is sunlight, and it is not -25⁰C.

And when your life becomes surviving, and just performing the mandatory daily grind, it kills the creativity that you have, and makes you just want to hibernate. All of your energy concentrates on just the most basic fact—staying alive.

But I Am Writing & Creating?

Maybe because I have spent most of my life in Finland. I didn’t even realise the effect the winters had on my mental wellbeing before 2019, when we spent our first winter abroad. But I believe I still manage the darkness better than my wife, who originates from tropical Malaysia.

I don’t, however, feel that the little voice inside my head gets louder during the dark months. You know that voice that says that you are not good enough, that no one cares or is even remotely interested in your so-called creativity.

And then, when I go and check the sales… or the non-existent sales, as is most often the case, it becomes even harder to create, and not just give up.

But…

Why would I give up? When I wrote my first book, I knew it wouldn’t be a best seller of 2025, and I did it to prove to myself that I could do it. And I did it!

I liked the process so much, or I am such a masochist, that I am currently writing my second book, and revising one more. But that doesn’t erase the feelings of demotivation, especially during winter.

¿Where Do We Go From Here?

I don’t do New Year Resolutions. I believe that any day is a good day to start being a better person, or to set plans into motion. Which is what we are currently doing. For over a month, maybe even since last September, we have been thinking where our future will lay. Maybe back in Spain, maybe Malaysia. And now we are coming towards the realisation, and it gives us the much needed boost of energy. Maybe that is what fuels me to write my blog again.

Talking about fuelling creativity – one of the easiest ways for you to show support to your favourite blogger is cheaper than buying a Cafe Latte! Head to Buy Me A Coffee and donate a cuppa for me, to refuel my creativity. At the same time you support our YouTube channel, Open Road Tales.