As I write this on January 10, we are a mere 20 days into the official season of wintering. Wintering is a fallow season in our lives, a time to reconnect with our inner nature and tap into our creative depths. A time to rest and restore.
But our world beckons, loudly and insistently. Our capitalist society forces us to summer all year long, even though that goes against our deepest and truest nature. Our world glories constant performance and ceaseless productivity, resulting in unprecedented cases of burnout and exhaustion.
We are assaulted daily by pressure to finally be the brightest, shiniest, best versions of ourselves. Too many people buy into the lie of new year, new you resolutions, on a restrictive diet, cleanse, or reset. Firstly, we shouldn’t be setting intentions in the middle of winter, when it’s dark and cold. Intention setting – growth – happens naturally at the Vernal Equinox (I’ll write more about the insane reason our Gregorian calendar designates January 1 as the year’s start in March).
I’m reminded of the famous quote by Albert Camus; “In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” He was talking more about a sense of inner strength, but it seems our world champions the idea of invincible summer. In being “on” all the time, we deny ourselves proper wintering. Retreat, reflection, and recuperation feels like an act of rebellion.
Yet it’s what our souls call for. No one must teach or force plants or animals to winter. Bears gorge, then hibernate. Squirrels gather and protect nourishment for the long, dark days. Birds shelter in place, waiting for the internal call of migration. Tulip bulbs conserve heat and energy so that they can, in time, burst forth in bloom.
How many people did you know who were sick at the holidays with Covid, RSV, Flu, or some random upper respiratory infection? It’s not only because we’re indoors more often and in closer contact with others that contagious illnesses spread so quickly. It’s also due to something called the Let Down Effect, which occurs when the body finally slows after moving at top speed. It’s why people get sick on vacation or during holiday breaks and it’s a biologically recent phenomenon, because only very modern humans have decided they don’t need to charge their own batteries.
What I’m saying is this. If you feel tired and unmotivated right now, you’re not lazy. This is not your time to rise. This is your time to sink. Into the earth, into your couch, into a bowl of hot soup, into your hopes and dreams and longings. No matter how hard we try to deny it, we are nature, made of the same elements as the stars. Our bones like coral reefs, our blood salinated like the turbulent ocean water, our every breath in concert with the forests.
We’re biologically designed to have less energy this time of year. Stop forcing yourself into an invincible summer and listen to the call of your heart.
