As hard as it may seem to believe, sometimes it doesn’t need another fur hat and heated blanket to stay warm in winter but something, that keeps us warm from the inside – this is not about booze.
It seems as though winter is trying to make up for its late start this year by inviting the kind of biting cold which results it us turning to imitate hibernation rituals: wrapping ourselves into our blankets, avoiding leaving the house and any social obligations. The first week of the year is over and with it goes the motivation to be somebody “entirely else”, someone, who “works out every day”, has a “busy professional and social calendar” and manages to balance everything better than Carrie Bradshaw four Cosmopolitans on girls night out. Adding to that the lack of vitamin D and we risk seasonal depression. Why is it that we fight these blues with all our might by booking flights into warmer climes, creating light shows in our apartments and upping our daily dosage of colourful small pills (vitamins!)? Whatever happened to embracing all the seasons in their own beauty and with all the feelings they tend to come with?
I am taking this time to reflect on the last few months and in some aspects even years. I am grateful for this opportunity to spend some quality time with myself, reconnecting with who I am and contemplating who I want to be. I invite the quiet to hear my own thoughts and let go of those of others.
Whether you are team Winter Arc or team S’mores and Snuggles, it seems to be a common takeaway that this season comes with at least some voluntary solitude, either to double down on your efforts to become the best version of yourself or by taking some much needed relaxation to regain strength – which ultimately contributes to becoming the best version of yourself as well.
And maybe while we put on our third top, we realise that maybe it is time to look deep inside, peel a layer or two of our nonchalance and coolness to open ourselves up and be kinder to everyone around us instead of icing them out just because we’re chilled to the bone. Whenever I complain about slipping on the ice for the umpteenth time, embarrassed about somebody asking me whether I hurt myself, I try to take a step back (internally only, we don’t need to fall yet another time) and think to myself that while it may not have looked like a planned figure skating choreography, these things happen and isn’t it nice to know that people – to some extend – still do care about one another? It reminds me of highly recluse villages in winter with their so friendly seeming communities. It is as if living under extreme weather conditions seems to have a positive effect on society for everyone helps their next in just trying to collectively make it through the winter and therefore ultimately becoming generally warmer and nicer. And what better way to keep warm on a cold winter’s day than by warming the hearts of others and having yours warmed in return? I will borrow some Paris Hilton spirit when I say that being kind to others? That’s hot! Even hotter than pushing ourselves too hard due to some other-worldly New Years Resolutions like “waking up in a good mood every day” and “finding a reasonably priced pair of Tabi boots”.
