As most songs can be interpreted to how was see it, I see this as a song from the perspective of someone that has always gone out of their way to help people and lived a hard life where they always put others before them and then never learned how it is ok to be selfish sometimes; the winter that is in their bones is who they are because of what they've been through. There is a persistent cold feeling they have that permeates to the bone. Not a literal cold, but more of a metaphorical one. They are cold and shut off from the world, haunted, even. They want to believe they can be happy and that they should let themselves be, but they war with themselves on whether they deserve it. And until they find a way to accept that they deserve to be happy, the winter will always be in their bones.
As most songs can be interpreted to how was see it, I see this as a song from the perspective of someone that has always gone out of their way to help people and lived a hard life where they always put others before them and then never learned how it is ok to be selfish sometimes; the winter that is in their bones is who they are because of what they've been through. There is a persistent cold feeling they have that permeates to the bone. Not a literal cold, but more of a metaphorical one. They are cold and shut off from the world, haunted, even. They want to believe they can be happy and that they should let themselves be, but they war with themselves on whether they deserve it. And until they find a way to accept that they deserve to be happy, the winter will always be in their bones.