January 30, 2026
There’s something about cold days that make me want to smile.
Not in a dramatic way. Not in a way that makes people think I just had a psychotic break. Just in a way that makes people think I know something they don’t.
Cold days make everything a little more annoying. Getting out of bed. Getting dressed. Walking from the car to wherever you’re going. Even thinking feels heavier when the air itself seems to resist you.
That’s probably why cold days also have a way of revealing what actually comforts us. Not the big stuff. The small stuff. The habits we lean on when the temperature drops and our patience goes with it.
I’ve noticed that on cold days, I don’t want inspiration. I want relief. I want warmth. I want something familiar that asks very little of me and gives something back.
That’s where today’s Thought of the Day and Question of the Day land for me.
Thought of the Day
“The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up.” — Mark Twain
This quote sounds almost too simple at first. Like something you’d hear and nod at without really stopping to test it.
But cold days are a good testing ground.
On cold days, we’re more inward. More guarded. More focused on getting through. And yet, those are often the days when a small outward gesture has an outsized effect. Holding the door a second longer. Sending a quick text you didn’t have to send. Letting someone merge without making a face about it.
What surprises me is how often those tiny acts work in both directions.
You set out to lift someone else, even just a little, and somehow you end up lighter too. Not because the cold disappears or the day magically improves, but because your attention shifts. You’re no longer trapped inside your own discomfort.
There’s a post I keep coming back to when I think about this, The Magic of a Snow Day: When the World Presses Pause, because it captures that strange way cold days slow us down enough to notice one another. Snow days don’t fix anything, but they remind us that we’re sharing the experience. That counts for something.
Cheering someone else up doesn’t have to be performative. It doesn’t have to be loud. Most of the time, it’s quiet and almost invisible. Which might be why it works.
Question of the Day
What’s something you do to make cold days feel less annoying?
My answer is very unambitious, and I mean that as a compliment.
I take a nice hot, steamy shower. I put on fresh, comfy, warm clothes. I crawl under a blanket on the couch, turn on a movie, and do nothing.
No productivity. No improvement plan. Just warmth and permission to rest.
There’s something honest about admitting that sometimes the best response to a cold day is retreat. Not giving up, just pulling back. Creating a small pocket of comfort and staying there for a while.
It’s not all that different from the way we gravitate toward familiar shows or movies when the weather turns. There’s a reason questions like What are you watching tonight? keep coming up. Comfort is often about predictability. About knowing what’s coming next and deciding that’s okay.
Your answer might look completely different than mine. Maybe it’s soup. Maybe it’s a walk. Maybe it’s complaining about the cold to someone who understands. All of it counts.
Cold days don’t ask us to be better people. They ask us to be kinder ones. Kinder to ourselves. Kinder to the people sharing the weather with us.
If this reflection resonates, or if you want a small daily pause like this waiting for you each morning, you can sign up for the daily email here. It’s a Thought of the Day and a Question of the Day, delivered quietly, no heavy lifting required.
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