diaries: stop acting like it's summer when it's literally winter

thoughts + guidance on aligning with the season

It’s the dead middle of winter and my skin is dry as f*ck to show for it. I feel like a recluse, I don’t wanna do anything with anybody. Staying horizontal on my couch sounds like the most appetizing thing to do.

Don’t get me wrong, I love winter. I don’t necessarily ‘hate’ any season. However, I’ve been trying to do this thing where I stay energetically aligned with the season I’m in.

Western culture is pretty fascinating in the sense that we try to live in a ‘summer-state-of-mind’ all the time. Not in the way that we’re going out and wearing shorts in the middle of January (although I def saw that today in Tompkins Square Park lol), but increasingly in the way that we’ve created a ‘more-is-more’ reward cycle. It’s as simple as this: we reward the grind + busy culture. It’s giving ‘If you’re schedule isn’t slammed all the time, are you even worthy of being on this earth?’ kind of energy.

Summer has an external, outgoing energetic. We feel more inclined to stay out later, as the sun is in the sky longer. It’s warm, the flowers and trees are full of life and thriving. Nature around us is abundant, so it makes sense for us to feel the same (as we often forget that we are a part of nature). Must we remember that Nature is not something that is separate from us.

As the days get colder in the fall/winter, a silly little thing called capitalism likes to keep us in this external lifestyle that really should only make sense for the summer months. The trees shed their leaves in the fall, the wildlife begin to prepare for hibernation and natural death cycles, where us westerners prepare for…….Christmas shopping.

And we allll know what it feels like during the holiday season. It is, simply put, the busiest time of the year. We’re traveling, we’re seeing family, we’re shopping, etc. I don’t have to explain it for you. What’s important here is this: We’ve built a culture where we like to speed up, when nature is encouraging us to slow down.

And to push along this point even further, after the holiday season, we normalize completely re-inventing ourselves with creating. New Year’s resolutions, setting intentions and calling in manifestations for the new year.

Don’t get it twisted here, I love setting new intentions for the New Year. It is so special creating vision boards and working towards goals and creating a new perspective for the year ahead.

AND I also like taking my time.

And I also want my intentions to be sustainable.

AND I want to be extra mindful about what I want to do and how I want to do it. I want to be slow in the winter, because I know that is what my body and soul needs. My body doesn’t need a bootcamp or a keto diet because its January 1st.

In reality, I don’t need a specific date on a calendar to start anew. New beginnings are happening in every moment.

Winter encourages the internal. It’s a time to deeply nourish. A time for reflection + solitude. How do you bring warmth to yourself when there is an absence of it in nature? Honor the darkness of the winter, as the light always returns. Know that the resistance to stillness is normal, especially in a culture that bows to the busy. Remember, you are worthy of resting (I’m trying to take my own advice here). Rest is an act of beauty. Rest is an act of love. Rest is an act of resistance.

You’re not crazy for wanting to do literally nothing during the colder months. You’re actually aligned with the season. Let yourself be ‘a recluse’. Fill your cup. Do things that nourish your soul.

I’ve put a little round up of things that nourish me in the winter, some are Ayurvedically inspired, some aren’t, I thought I would share regardless. <3

WAYS TO NOURISH YOURSELF IN THE WINTER:

• Sleeping in. In Ayurveda, it’s encouraged to wake up with the sun. If you usually get up before the sun rises, give yourself permission to sleep a little longer in the morning. If you always sleep past the sun rise, consider it on trend for this season. Your body craves more rest during this season anyway. Go to bed earlier as an added bonus ;).

• Saying no to unnecessary plans. Maybe you can skip going out to dinner with that distant high school friend? Where do you want to allocate your energy with this one babe.

• Eating cooked root vegetables. Root vegetables grow in the ground. Eating more root vegetables = feeling more grounded. Great examples include, beets, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, acorn + winter squash too. Always make sure they are cooked and are not eaten raw! Raw vegetables create more ‘vata’ energy, which can encourage more scattered, disorganized and anxious energy.

• Saunas / Heat Building Movements. Infrared heated gentle yoga is great for this time of year as it pacifies that natural qualities of the winter season, bringing the body back into alignment. Although winter is an internal season, kicking up the intensity dial on your physical movement isn’t discouraged, as it will help remove stagnancy from the body that can happen during the colder months. Enjoy any movement/workout that stokes fire from within. I love pilates, hot yoga and SoulCycle because duh.

• Journaling. When I have time, I journal and reflect each morning. I’ll do about three pages of just freestyle/brain dump style writing and then will fill these 5 prompts that Andrew Huberman posted on his Insta awhile back, that have helped me a ton. Apparently these prompts captures key elements from the science of goal seeking, emotional health and motivation:

  • 1. FIVE GRATITUDES

  • 2. PLANS FOR THE DAY

  • 3. ANY FEARS OR RESENTMENTS

  • 4. THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR

  • 5. THINGS TO STRIVE FOR

Happy wintering babes. Stay cozy, drink warm tea, and remember that rest is the resistance. :)

xx,

J