On the one hand, I want to join everyone who likes to bitch and moan about winter. “I’m so sick of this snow” and “When is it going to get warm again?” are as much a common refrain in the Werner house as any other Midwestern home this time of year.
On the other hand, I need winter. Like a bear looking to hibernate, winter marks the season when I yearn to retreat. From behind a desk and calendar of social obligations, I head for the confines of a warm bed, down comforter and cup of peppermint tea. Not to mention long, unapologetic stretches of movie-watching, catching up on brilliant television and napping on the couch.
Come wintertime, I don’t feel guilty about laying around the house, reading a book all day. There is no yard work to be done. No clients to smile in front of my camera. No brilliant sunshine beckoning me to get out and get active.
But like a lot of you, I struggle with this season, too. For every day of gratitude at the rest it affords comes an hour of surrendering to its doldrums. To that place where I crave the very activities that preceded it. And this, as so many of you creatives know, is the hard balance of this season. Where we have to find the beauty in the break without losing that creative spark that ignites the other 10 months of our year.
January’s days are waning now. Until they’re gone, I’ll soak up what remains of their guilt-free allowances. The light may be drab and the temperatures chill, but I know this season soon will end and, with it, my body’s desires to do nothing. Come February, I’ll be ready to think spring again. How ’bout you?
See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Become a fan of Gail’s work on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.
by Gail Werner
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