Wintering – Is there such a thing?
I ate more than I should have. When I finished my meal, I climbed the steps slowly to my bedroom, stretched across my bed, and dozed off. I woke from my hour-long nap mad; I hadn’t planned to sleep an entire hour!! Then I realized I had nothing to do. No place to be. Suddenly, a craving for a creamy soup with garlic buttered toast came over me.
I walked into my kitchen and created a pot of chicken, noodles, and broth with the ingredients I had on hand. The warmth from the steam from my pot of comfort wafted my face. I smiled. Two bowls later, I felt delighted. Then guilt crept in. Uh-Oh’s!: “Did I read the number of pages I said I wanted today?” “Did I write my target number of words?” “Did I unpack one or two boxes?” The “Did I’s” kept coming. I ran through my “to-do” list. Yet, I was happy cooking and finishing a warm cup of soup and doing nothing. What if THIS moment was exactly what I needed?
When January arrives, the pressure is on to have a list of goals to accomplish in the new year beginning on January 2. Prior to moving to Charleston, I planned to take January to reset for my new chapter. A time to rest, think, learn my new hometown, and meet new people. Yet this day, I felt the undeniable urge to do something productive, such as the actionable tasks to check off my list before I began working again in February. But maybe my body needed a time of Wintering.
If you look Wintering up in the dictionary, Google, or Bing AI, you will be hard pressed to find a definition or one that pertains to humans. In her 2020 novel Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, Katherine May describes the concept of wintering as:
“Those moments when life turns cold through crisis or loss, and we find ourselves living at a different, slower pace to everyone else.” May also suggests wintering is part of the ebb and flow of life. A time to retreat to care for and repair ourselves.”
After a stressful two months of packing the house, closing out a season of work, and all that is related to it, I was tired. Maybe I should accept what wintering can bring. While closing out my life, I was also celebrating with friends and family while bidding farewell. It was an emotional time. A time to rest was well-deserved.
I was tired and my body knew it. My first week in my new home, I slept in late. Some mornings I didn’t awaken until 10:00 AM!!! I was getting more hours of sleep per night than I can remember. Maybe Wintering was required for this season in my life. Then I could show up as my whole self when I enter my next chapter.
So, as I write this blog on a cold January evening. I am accepting a time of wintering and forgive myself for all I am and all I am not doing. I will enjoy this space as I admire the glow from my Christmas tree that remains in place until I find a fit time for it to come down.
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