“Doing those deeply unfashionable things—slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting—is a radical act now, but it is essential. This is a crossroads we all know, a moment when you need to shed a skin. If you do, you’ll expose all those painful nerve endings and feel so raw that you’ll need to take care of yourself for a while. If you don’t, then that skin will harden around you.”
― Katherine May, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times
Perhaps my favorite thing about living in the Northeast is the seasonal shifts that guide us through our year. Like our monthly cycles, each season brings an invitation of new energy, pursuits, and intentions.
In the brisk, gray, and bitter cold, lessons abound all around us on the art of Wintering.
Creatures around us like bats, bears, and snakes slow their heart rate, stay holed up in their dens for months at a time, and do, quite literally, as little as possible to survive until warmer weather.
The deciduous trees around us shed their leaves in preparation for Winter to protect themselves from damage, to recycle nutrients back into their roots, and, above all, to conserve energy.
We are, of course, creatures too, subject to the rhythms of Mother Nature, and we therefore should not expect the same productivity and outward energy from ourselves or others throughout this season. We, too, are meant to rest, slow down, pause for inward reflection, and “shed some leaves” to protect our precious energy.
As much as some days I wish I could, obviously, we cannot stay in our beds and stop our body’s metabolic processes until Spring. But we can make little choices to rest and restore this season that can have huge impacts on our nervous system. We can go to bed early, fill our kitchens with nourishing warming foods, take meaningful pauses from major energy sucks in our daily lives like social media or the constant news cycle, snuggle up on the couch with a cup of tea and a good book, do some gentle stretching, and make time to truly restore and rest.
And so, among the greater chaos of the world and the literal and figurative Winter we are all in right now, I hope you all are finding some moments of peace, warmth, and replenishment.
Warmly,
Dr. Lizzie
If this first month is any indication of what’s to come, we’re all gonna need some Wholesome Healing in 2025:
My one-of-a-kind small Tongue Tie Babies Support Group combines clinical pediatric chiropractic care, hands on education about ties and their impacts, and emotional support for families working through oral feeding restrictions.
My next cohort starts February 24th and is limited to only 6 pairs of babies and their parent.
Be sure to sign up for the waitlist now so you are the first to know when registration opens and to get a discount off the registration price.