Winter Blues to Alternate Views
February 2024
Winter has always been my least favorite season of the year. The dreariness, the shorter days, the struggle to stay warm…. These colder months traditionally have left me uninspired, sluggish, and unsettled. I found myself more reserved and down than at other times of the year, defaulting to enduring these months rather than embracing them.
This year I decided I didn’t want to resort to my defaults, though. I’m paying attention to how I’m viewing this time and approaching these dormant months with a change in thinking. I’ve even come to see how incredibly helpful – and critical – winter is in the cycle of our seasons. I’ve started to recognize the purpose it serves and value it provides.
Here are a few of the truths I am NOW embracing, which have made this winter so much better for me.
There's a unique beauty and opportunity in the stillness and quiet of winter.
With life generally being so busy and distracting, winter provides an opportunity for more tranquility and rest. It's a time when nature takes a pause, inviting us to slow down. It also is a great time for reflection, introspection, and personal growth. Without some of the hustle and bustle that can be so present at other times of the year, winter grants us the permission to go inward and create the space needed for new ideas to take shape. In this quiet, we can gain more clarity and a stronger sense of purpose for ourselves. And from that place of calm, we can more easily and successfully contemplate changes we may want to make in our lives.
Winter helps us accept and appreciate change.
Weather is one sure thing that is outside of our control. The cycle of the seasons reflects the inevitability of change and teaches us that embracing transitions enables more ease in our lives than resisting them. Change is a part of life, just like the changing seasons. By accepting change gracefully, we can navigate life's uncertainties with more resilience and a positive mindset. Adapting to that which IS promotes more inner peace and allows what is meant to happen naturally.
Winter helps sow the seeds of our dreams for the year.
We need winter’s dormancy to give the space required for new ideas and wishes to take shape. It may seem like a cold and lifeless season, but there is so much happening under the surface in preparation for what’s to come. It’s such a prime time to allow goals and aspirations to form and to envision what it will be like when those take root and then blossom in the months to come. Plan the steps to bring those seeds to sprout and flourish. When the weather warms, it’s these areas that will bear fruit, springing forth all that you were cultivating. Yes, patience is required, but it will be worth the wait.
So, instead of wishing for winter to end….
What shifts will allow you to use this time to dream and seek out the joys you want for yourself this year?
How can you emerge from the quiet of this season with more clarity and purpose?
What will you attend to now so that when the weather warms, you are growing what you intend?
Now is the time for the inner work so that it presents itself outwardly soon. Embrace the season, trust the growth that will come, and enjoy the beautiful outcomes that unfold throughout the year.
