Winter Wishes

When the world wishes for warmer days when winter strikes, I rest.

Reverence in the windowpane,

I crave sanctuary by open archways,

guiding me into a solstice,

of solitude,

deep in slumber,

it is inept,

to adapt.

For we too are animals by nature,

nurtured by colder days,

we depend on heat and play,

when we would only reap what we sowed,

during autumn nights,

if we let ourselves,

sleep,

instead of taking flight.

After nearly a decade of dancing in trial and error, I have discovered the secret to a softer year, led by a winter of solitude. We, a society of combative cancel culture, hellbent on creating effortless content, need a reset.

We need - in the simplest of terms - sleep.

I say this as two of my four dogs lay their heads in a peaceful slumber on our wobbly couch, which spent nearly a year holding my partner and I as we laughed contagiously at whatever show we could sink our attention into. A recliner of revelations, it let us arch our bodies back as we slapped our knees in between cackled belly laughs, happy to spend those moments together. Late nights lured in leisure filled mornings, a lullaby only babies and monks can vividly recall.

We actually allowed ourselves ample time to experience the follies and functions of a mundane, yet rich life. After years of suffocating my body with alcohol, clinging to a fleeting feeling, which was only a mistrust in myself and my capacity for embracing healing, I dedicated my efforts towards genuinely staying still and resting. There lay a heaviness within my body after years of training it to accept self-hatred and hurt, and it needed a rebirth.

A revolution in itself, finding the time to truly unwind and recharge has become less of the human norm, especially in a work world where we accelerate "the grind" by throwing ourselves into candid zoom calls, 12-hour shifts, weekend email catch ups - until we lose ourselves in a simple scroll that steals whole days.

We are the time travelers of our generation, yet we allow time to slip away in a senseless, soulless, scroll. Starving, we scavenge through content in order to feel content. Alas, we have become a living, breathing paradox, sitting at our computers wishing for winter so that we may rest from the humid summers that solidified our discontentment for floundering about life in a way that drains us of any real purpose.

My hope is that your winter wishes, and the origins of where they derive from, shine through and that the blue screen in the evening does not steal away your inner, intuitive knowing that you crave the cocoon because you are the caterpillar.

If you - if we - could only allow ourselves the rest, we deserve. Give yourself the chance to emerge refreshed, as the grass grows greener and the earth breathes new life, birthing those who let themselves stay still enough to become new. Think of winter as a port, a pending dock where ships stay when the winds grow too strong that the ocean beckons only stormy seas, waves of grey and grandeur, the ships stay idol. You are the ship and at bay you must stay, waiting for calmer conditions. There is nothing wrong in the wait; wellness is worth the wait.

The more we move in tune with the seasons, the more in tune we are with ourselves and our true nature. We were not created for late night zoom calls, endless tireless scrolling... therefore, my advice and resolution for 2022 is to move more fluidly with the seasons and be as nature intended us to be.

Allow yourself the chance to be the butterfly.