The Winter of it all: reflections on the first Monday of 2025
“Resting is about getting people back to their truest selves. To what they were before capitalism robbed you of your ability to just be. Rest is anything that slows you down enough to allow your body and mind to connect in the deepest way.”
― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto
I’m sitting here on one of the most unproductive Mondays I can remember, and I couldn’t help but wonder how everyone else is feeling today. On this first Monday of 2025, for many people their first day of work after the festive season break, and for many others perhaps just another day in the rat race of life.
Amongst many other things, I’m sitting with feelings of frustration, ambivalence, self-criticism, fatigue, and rage. I’m aware of a nagging little voice telling me that I should be feeling hopeful, motivated, rested, and ready for a new year filled with adventures, excitement… and I can’t even finish this sentence properly. The reality is that I would just like to spend the day in bed doing nothing, perhaps watching a movie or reading a book, or just simply taking a very long nap. If my body is craving that, surely that’s what I should do?
We live in an age where experts abound, often giving us contradictory guidance and advice about what’s best for us, how we should be living our lives, and how we should optimise and maximise each second of our days. Like people don’t have enough on their minds, hearts, and bodies already. There’s always something more we can be doing. And look, I’m one of these experts, and I’m often in a position where I’m recommending things to people, and most of the time I really believe and stand by what I’m saying and sharing, but some other times, I really just think to myself: “Just leave people alone. Let them do whatever they want with their lives.”
Ultimately, I think this speaks to the messiness of human nature. We do want the best for ourselves, and we know this requires work and effort and time and patience and hopefully some joy, but we also feel incredibly overwhelmed and subdued by our never-ending to-do lists, our hopes and wishes, our fears and unspoken truths, and everything else that’s happening in the lives of the people we love and care about, and around the world.
I recently wrote a workshop for businesses around this tension of productivity and mood in the winter months. Writing it in itself was a tense experience, because I know for myself and from the thousands of hours I have spent with people that this time of year is very tricky. There is an extreme and confounding amount of pressure, stress, and strain between what our bodies naturally want and need, and what our businesses and managers require of us. As I was writing and researching this workshop, which is designed to increase understanding of the impact of winter on mental health and productivity, and explore strategies to maintain energy, focus, balance, and reflective moments, I kept wondering why we do this to ourselves.
A quick Google search about the construct of time and calendars revealed that the transition from the new year being marked and celebrated in the Spring, in alignment with the Spring Equinox (and nature itself!), to it being marked and celebrated in the height of Winter took centuries and several historical events to become established. It began during the Roman Empire in 153 BCE and it was finally concluded in 1752 when Great Britain and its former colonies officially adopted the Gregorian Calendar. That may seem a very long time ago, but humanity has been around for much longer than that and our modus operandi for millennia was simply to follow nature’s cycles. What happened?
All of this to say that there is in fact nothing natural, and I dare say healthy, about this obsession with productivity, high energy, and motivation. The frustration and rage I feel around this time of year relates to this deep knowing that I actually have a lot of clarity about what I need - slowing down, resting, napping, warmth, solitude - but I also have a lot of awareness about what is “required” of me - create new content, set goals for the year, strategise new plans, expand my network, etc.
Aren’t we all already doing enough by simply living each day the best that we can? Couldn’t we just leave the big plans for later?
I would like to share a reflective exercise on daydreaming and imagination, to do when and if you want to:
This is a mind map activity, so grab a pen and some paper.
At the centre, start with the question: “If anything were possible, what would I create, do, or experience this winter?”
Let your ideas flow without judgment or rationality, and allow yourself to add branches for dreams, goals, creative pursuits, and anything else that you desire.
Share this with someone you trust and love.
Finally, here is a list of sources I recommend for reflection, practical information, imagination, and processing grief (I also always recommend looking for interviews with these authors whether in print or on podcasts instead of/alongside reading the books):
Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto, by Tricia Hersey
The Wild Edge of Sorrow: The Sacred Work of Grief, by Francis Weller
Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, by Katherine May
How to Winter: Harnessing Your Mindset to Thrive In Cold, Dark or Difficult Times, by Kari Leibowitz