Article: Robyn von Geusau from SHAPE
Image: Getty Images

Shed the baggage
Literally, toss the old tissues, receipts, folders and unworn clothes from your handbag, desk, pockets and wardrobe. All that time spent searching for telephone numbers, the right T-shirt or business card is wasteful and drains your vitality.

"Clutter demands your time," says Ann Marie Woodall, author of Secrets of a High-Heeled Healer (Thorsons). "It has to be dusted, filed, or otherwise dealt with. You may use it as a distraction, but it is in the way. Get rid of it before it sucks you dry."

Consider a cooking, pottery, painting or mosaic course
Right brain activities can be tremendously soothing, as they allow that logical left-brain time-out, and the creativity that flows is fulfilling and a great confidence booster.

Plan a summery holiday even if you know you'll never get there
Just the act of paging through travel brochures, surfing travel websites and planning an itinerary is soul-soothing.

Make your bed as soon as you get up
It's hard to get out of bed during winter, but when you eventually do, shake out the night and get into the day straight away. Plump up your pillows, dust off the dreams, smooth out creases and you'll feel ready to take on the day.

Go window shopping
The combination of a serious lack of sunshine and ever-increasing interest rates is enough to depress anyone. So cheer yourself up by window shopping for your favourite items. You don't have to buy it, but you can still look: that gorgeous leather handbag, those ultra-slim music-storing gadgets, that perfume that smells like a million dollars and costs almost the same. Well, we all can dream, can't we?

Take a child to tea
Pick up your niece, a friend's son, a young cousin, and lay on all the trappings. Order cream scones with dollops of strawberry jam, lick your fingers along with them and truly find the joy in in the moment. You may be disgustingly full afterwards, but every now and then it's good to feel like a kid again.

Put one foot in front of the other
When it's not raining, a walk outdoors, or along the beach in winter can be rather invigorating. It can be as leisurely as an amble around the block or a brisk walk in the park – just fill your lungs with that cool, crisp air and those endorphins will be pumping in no time.

What do you do to beat the winter blues? Tell us in the comment box below.