Winter is a time of slowing down. No sun, little energy. Little sun, no energy. For most animals winter is a time when they hunker down and rest. Birds fly south to warmer weather, mammals hibernate. Fish … probably swim slower I don’t really know.  

For some reason people have lost the line so to say. As a civilisation, we have decided that “we will not be affected by weather or time of year!”. Which is incredibly silly and detrimental to our inner clocks that self regulate with the earth’s natural cycles. Maybe people in the villages and countryside don’t feel this lack of tuning to the season, but in the city there is an expectation to go go go. 

As the nights get longer, our mood also shifts. We are tired. lethargic. Sleepy. Yet, we still expect ourselves to be going at the same rate we went on in the summer. 

Although I am conscious of this, it doesn’t make me not beat myself up. I feel the need to DO the most in the winter. When I have the least energy and start piling lists of things I must achieve in order to feel better about myself. As this list gets longer I get more weighed down by my lack of doing. 

Was winter always this hard? Perhaps I can only clearly recall my life as an adult, but I don’t think it was always like this. October used to be the start of the holiday season – my birthday, halloween, thanksgiving, Christmas. Now October is the beginning of the depression months. I think it took my six years of “adult life” to realise that all of the magic of the holidays was created and sustained in great part by my mother and then spending time with family.

When the cold months hit they didn’t feel so cold and desolate because there was the warmth of family. The long nights were not so dark because of the Christmas lights on the tree and the decorations brightening the room.