WINTERING: A SEASON OF STILLNESS
The light has shifted. When my alarm rings at five, it’s no longer the soft blush of sunrise that greets me, but quiet darkness. I find myself curled up in the corner of the living room, hands wrapped around a warm mug of tea, watching the steam rise, like a quiet ritual of return.
For the last few weeks, I feel something stir within me, not a call to action, but a quiet invitation to slow down. There’s a rhythm to life that often gets drowned out by our calendars and expectations. But something is really shifting now, and I feel it clearly, and so, I listen.
But I’ll be honest, this year, it wasn’t immediate. There’s been this in-between feeling lately. A kind of quiet resistance, a foggy space between what was and what’s next. I felt myself pushing through it, trying to keep momentum, but something deeper kept nudging me. My intuition grew louder. Not in words, but in a quiet, undeniable pull.
And when I finally paused, tuned in, and made a decision for myself, to allow more space, to soften into the shift, everything changed. Suddenly, the season ahead didn’t feel heavy. It felt right. Like an exhale I didn’t know I was holding.
Now, winter feels like an opening, not a closing. A time to rest, restore, and realign. It’s a sacred part of the cycle. Just like nature, we too move in rhythms. There are times to expand and times to retreat. Honoring these inner seasons is what keeps us truly aligned.
The energy of winter asks nothing of us but to soften. It doesn’t demand output or performance. It invites us to turn inward and tend to what is unseen.
To reflect.
To simply be.
It’s knowing that some of our deepest growth happens underground.
This year, I’m letting myself hibernate a little. To drink tea slowly. To say no without guilt. To take longer walks and check inwards instead of checking my phone. I’m clearing space not just to rest my body, but to hear the subtle voice within, the one that always knows.
So if you too feel that tug, the quiet craving to pull back, do less, simply be, I invite you to honor it. Let this be a season of being instead of doing. Of deep listening instead of constant noise. Trust that everything important will still be there when everything melts.
But for now… pause. Breathe.
Wrap yourself in stillness and let it hold you.
Because just like the earth, you are allowed to rest. So much in our culture tells us to be “always on,” always producing. But nature reminds us: nothing blooms all year. The winter season is not the end, it’s the preparation. It’s part of a sacred cycle, and we are invited to trust it.
Nature never questions the pause, it honors it.
A Gentle Invitation
As you move through this season, perhaps you can ask yourself:
Where in my life am I being called to slow down?
What would it feel like to rest, not because I’ve earned it, but because I am allowed to?
What might blossom later, if I choose to go inward now?
You don’t need to change everything. Sometimes, it begins with a single, quiet shift.
✨Light a candle before your morning emails.
✨Sit with your tea/coffee without scrolling.
✨Step outside and feel the stillness of the air.
✨Say no to something, and feel the power of that no.
Winter doesn’t ask for perfection.
Just presence.
—
Yvette
