[This is the start of my newest article for Darling Magazine.
Click here to read the whole piece!]

Winter is upon us, now. The air hollows itself out, offering only cold and wind. The ground is freezing, slowing, and stalling its growth. Grass browns, trees harden. Earth, it seems, pauses.

Perhaps we would be wise to do the same.

Winter arrives, for many of us, in a bustle of activity: Holidays and more holidays, parties and more parties, gifts, clothes, decorations, busyness. Much of this is fun and exciting, but the reality is that after these holidays are over, we often find ourselves more exhausted than we were before.

What if, instead of getting caught up in the rhythms of everyone around us this year, we intentionally approached this winter with a decision to pause? To rest? To hibernate? What if we sought to take a cue from nature and slowed down this winter, instead of pushing ahead?

While we can’t exactly hibernate and sleep for most of the winter (although at times we might wish that we could!), we can take a lesson from the pause of nature and the hibernation of bears to reconsider how we might approach the winter season through both rest and rejuvenation.

We need seasons of rest every year — pushing too hard can hurt our creativity and our health. Share on X

REST

Trees: In nature, we see that trees stop flowering. They are in a state of dormancy; their growth slows and even stops in some cases. This dormancy is actually a good sign for the tree, as it is a normal part of its life cycle and important for the tree’s overall health.

The same is true with us. We need seasons of rest every year — pushing too hard can hurt our creativity and our health. This winter, we can allow ourselves to press pause on our continual pace of productivity and rest. Consider a “staycation” or a couple long weekends where you intentionally let your mind and body rest, rather than work. This will set us up well to leave the winter season rested and ready for the creativity and life that comes in the spring.

Read the rest of the article here, at Darling Magazine!

Image via Madison Holmlund.