“Are we not living in the season we’re in? Are we actually living winter during fall and spring during winter?”
That’s the comment I read on YouTube recently and while those were not her exact words, she made a great point.
Our rush into the next season cripples our enjoyment of where we’re at.
This isn’t a new thing and I’m not going to preach at you. I think we all get it. I mean, commercially, it’s exhausting right?! In some cases, Valentine’s Day stuff was out before Christmas even came. Fall “starts” the beginning of August.
With this commenter’s insight, I thought how winter really is Cozy Season. Winter is actually the season for wrapping yourself up in a blanket with a warm cup of coffee or cocoa to a good book. Winter is the weather for lighting candles and reading books and doing puzzles on the kitchen table. Winter is when the old movies come out with your favorite love stories and you watch through your DVD collection because the daylight doesn’t last long and it’s cold outside!
But we’re so busy forcing Cozy Season into Autumn that we’re over it by January. And consequently we miss all the orange light of Autumn, all those golden evenings dripping with the last vestiges of the year and the invitation to go wild where you can in the leaves, in the stretches of warmth, or in picking the last of the flowers.
Yes, Cozy Season is indeed on the way and will likely arrive before January, but it will take its sweet time. (And we could have a sweet time waiting on it, but likely won’t!)
In short, we’ve tricked ourselves right out of the joys to be had in wintertime.
I’m all about anticipating a season or a holiday. I admit I already have Valentine’s Day stuff stored away (and I’m so excited!), but I actually need January and dull winter days where I rest my time, my hands, my spirit, and my mind.
It’s one thing to happen upon a brilliant and bursting bloom in January whether that be outdoors or in our soul, but it’s another thing entirely to force blooming and springtime into the winter season. That exhausting and it doesn’t have to be that way!
Curious how we get to the New Year with all these hopes and dreams and lists and fresh goals right when our season of weather invites us to slow down. Instead, we try running out the door with pompoms in hand and springtime as our expectation.
What I’m trying to say is,
Could it be January is actually our month for dreaming? for considering goals and growth? for praying about the months ahead?
What if we gave ourselves the whole of January to relish in Cozy Season while also leafing through our dreams and goals, praying for wisdom, and not being rushed at any point in the process! Just imagine that. No cramming all your reflections between Christmas and New Year’s Day. No pushing winter out of the way. Letting Cozy Season have a renaissance. Filling your evenings with coloring, painting, reading, writing, or listening to music without distraction.
Really imagine it!
What would it look like if we let January be the be the big deep breath before we hit the ground running? Because we will run and we’re gonna love it, but I don’t think we have to run yet. We certainly need to be on the course. We certainly need to look up to where we’re about to go. Put some shoes on. Make sure their the right kind of shoes.
But I don’t think we have to run RIGHT THIS MINUTE.
Winter needs to have its say. Even my flowers know it! My roses are practically sticks! But they’re fine with it. Roots are down and they’ll bloom again. But blooming is not for January…
Being is for January. Wintering is for January. Growing in fortitude and rest is for January.
Now, that’s something to get behind! No pompoms necessary! So this year, I’m reclaiming Cozy Season.
I’m reclaiming Winter.
It’s too good to miss, don’t you think?
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Sierra V. Fedorko 
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