The days are getting shorter and darker, and we’ve already had our first snowfall of the season. Soon, it will be the Winter Solstice (at least as I write this), and we will have the shortest day and the longest night of the year, officially marking the beginning of winter. In many cultures, the Winter Solstice is celebrated as a transition symbolizing renewal and the beginning of the return of light. Christmas is only one of many traditions celebrated during the winter time. My intention in this article isn’t to invite the reader to practice any particular tradition, but to highlight the importance of symbolism and community during the cold season, which seem to be getting more and more lost and forgotten. Many people struggle during the winter, understandably so. Our schedules are forced to change in some way, and our bodies and brains respond to the darkness in a way that society frowns upon but that biologically makes sense. In her book Wintering (which I highly recommend), Katherine May says,
“Plants and animals don’t fight the winter; they don’t pretend it’s not happening and attempt to carry on living the same lives that they lived in the summer. They prepare. They adapt. They perform extraordinary acts of metamorphosis to get them through. Winter is a time of withdrawing from the world, maximizing scant resources, carrying out acts of brutal efficiency and vanishing from sight; but that’s where the transformation occurs. Winter is not the death of the life cycle, but its crucible”.
Many animals hibernate during the winter, others spend the whole summer collecting resources to store throughout the winter, and many change their diets and lifestyle in order to adapt to the colder temperatures. This is natural. And, while us humans don’t hibernate, we are much closer to nature and animals than we like to think, and, if we pay close attention, we might realize that our bodies and our needs might change slightly during the winter. I would like to invite you to meet these changes with intention, and to give yourself permission as needed instead of shaming yourself. Easier said than done. However, here is a list of suggestions (you may take what feels helpful and leave out what doesn’t) to get us through the winter with a bit more ease and, perhaps, magic.
- Allow yourself to get some extra sleep
You might notice yourself getting sleepier in the winter. This is absolutely normal. The days are getting shorter and colder, and it’s suddenly dark by 4pm. Your body and brain respond accordingly to these changes, which can modify our circadian rhythm. Of course, this comes with two asterisks: the first one is that not everyone can afford to sleep in late, so experiment with a few different ways to get even just a few extra minutes of sleep (this may look like going to bed earlier, taking naps, etc.); the second one is an invitation to be mindful of what a balance might look like for you between some extra sleep that feels restorative vs. hypersomnia that comes with mood or behavioral changes that could be helpful to mention to your PCP and/or therapist.
- Lean into your indoor hobbies or get a new hobby
You will probably spend more time indoors than usual, so this is a good opportunity to focus on a project such as knitting, baking, painting, writing, playing an instrument, or even home decor. Spend less time on your phone and more time using your hands to craft and create.
- Tend to your home
It’s a good time to do those things around the house that you said you’d do in the summer but forgot. House repairs, cleaning and organizing your house are part of preparing for the winter, and also a good way to symbolically make space for something new. Decluttering makes space, and if you’re into rituals, this can be a good one to call in the new year.
- Seek out community
From hosting dinners, having hot cocoa with friends, or cozying up by the fire with some apple cider, we are constantly reminded that winter is a time for sharing what we have with others, whether that is time and company or actual material resources. We may also find ourselves feeling lonely around this time, which is more common than we realize. Prioritize making time to be with your chosen family and loved ones, or volunteering at a local organization. Laughter and community can bring tremendous warmth when it’s cold outside.
- Make your alone time meaningful
At the same time, winter is a time that invites us to withdraw from the world and rest. If winter inspires you to cancel plans more often so that you can get home and cozy up and say YES to spending time with yourself, try to make that time intentional. Winter can be a good time to reflect and be introspective. If you like to journal, write about the lessons you learned this year, the wisdom that you gained, the things you’re grateful for, or values you’d like to live by and get closer to in the new year. If you’re spiritual, prayer, meditation, making an altar, and creating rituals to flow with the changes that winter brings might feel meaningful to you. Think of your alone time as your time to recharge batteries and nourish yourself.
- Find rituals
Find something to celebrate or mark this season or the end of the year. You don’t have to celebrate the same thing everyone else is celebrating or believe in anything, but rituals and symbols have carried us through time and add a touch of “magic” or significance to the ordinary. You may choose to do something special for the Winter Solstice, the New Year, Christmas, Yule, or create your very own tradition. Why? To mark the passing of time, to welcome a new season, to believe in something, to navigate the season with more ease, to spend time with people, to connect with something greater than yourself, or just for fun. There may be nothing special about winter to you, and that’s okay, but if you feel called to lean into symbols and rituals, it can be nothing more than a way to remind yourself that this season, too, is impermanent. The cold and darkness will pass.
Regardless of whether we enjoy the winter or not, we can try to see it as an invitation to tend to ourselves and our homes, to rest deeply, to make cozy nests out of the spaces we inhabit, to embrace liminal spaces, and to use the cold season to our advantage. Will we respond to it?