Writer and winter enthusiast Katherine May revels in the winter months. While the long, dark evenings invite us to huddle indoors and disconnect from the world, they also offer a chance for reflection, remembrance, and a reset in our lives. As May explains, this season is a time to pause and recalibrate for many.
“Winter is a season of dread as a time of year when grief surfaces. There are people who will be spending their first Christmas alone, or maybe their fifth Christmas alone – everything will be out of place.”
May, author of the book Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, encourages embracing those feelings of loss and loneliness that seem to creep in with the cold. She argues that “this time of year, we're often so tired and grumpy” that “we have to treat ourselves like children sometimes, who are in need of a nap, in need of a snack, in need of a bit of quiet time.”
The cure for this? May encourages going outdoors and looking to nature for inspiration and guidance, pointing out that even at the bleakest, darkest time of year, life goes on.
“Think about it in terms of hibernation, in terms of really drawing back. It becomes this beautiful process of rebirth to me and this paring back of what we need teaches us something really profound. Which is that life goes on, even in the most compromised of circumstances.”
Katherine May, pictured here, says “I realized a few years ago that I'm really bad at being festive. I hate that kind of pressure and I don't like the concentration into one day of all of our hopes and expectations for the year, and this sense that suddenly we have to be a functional family again.” Photo courtesy of Katherine May
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May
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