The Depth of Winter

It’s in the last few days that I’ve noticed Winter is starting to settle in. The burst of Autumn’s bright colours is fading - it is such a grande finale, and such a late one this year, I had almost forgotten to anticipate another season.

It has turned cold. The tree branches are mostly skeletal and bare. The sun, at least, has been making the effort between torrential downpours in the short hours it is allowed.

There is a ruthlessness to Winter. The biting cold. The howling winds. The empty fields, the freezing mud. The complete and widening dark. I sometimes think we are soft now, the way we live out this season. We have supermarkets full of food rather than depending on our stores. We have central heating and electricity. Many of us sit inside, warm and well fed.

And yet… We have gone through two winters in the throes of a pandemic. We have just been informed of an impending cost of living crisis, that families will be unable to both heat their homes and afford food. This Winter brings warnings. This Winter, we are told, will be harder than we are used to.

The seasons of our lives, the times, our bodies, and the year all call require their own unique tending. They call forth from each of us what needs to emerge. This world is one of cycles and change. Adapt, shift, transform - these are the only options. And you are very good at it if you are here.

One way to keep track of a life is to count the Winters. How many? How many dark and cold months have you made it through already? Look, look at your resilience. Through famine, plague, and the heaviness of the dark. You are still here. A little crooked maybe, with some wear and tear. But you know Winter well. You’ve met her so many times before, and not once has she defeated you.

Winter is not gentle. But there is something of a kindness, if you lean in deep enough. If you let the animal of you curl up. If you rest, and then rest some more. If you allow that lonely silence to wrap itself around you and touch you with its yearning. If you drift into the dreaming. Remember, gestation occurs in the dark.

Whatever you are facing in these cold and dark months, trust that you know how to face hard times. You know how to survive. You have resilience beyond what you believe. And that there is always something deep and fertile here, if you open to it.