Wintering
Seasonal rhythms for ENERGY.MIND.BODY. Tending to your own reserves is an act of future generosity.
The world softens. The noise thins. We begin to hear ourselves more clearly…in whispers. In the body’s pull toward warmth. In the mind’s longing for beauty and rhythm. In the quiet knowing that doing less, for a while, is not only allowed…it is necessary.
Lately, I’ve been noticing how my days want to be lived more slowly. How my nervous system responds when I let myself cocoon instead of push. When I choose rituals over routines, depth over density, and boundaries over burnout. This season has been less about fixing and more about tending—>gathering small practices that restore energy, steady the mind, and warm the body from the inside out.
This post is a collection of those wintering rituals. Not prescriptions, but gentle offerings. Ways I’m honoring my energy, my mind, and my body as they are…right here, right now. Let this be an invitation to cozy in for a while—to rest without guilt, to listen more closely, and to remember that winter is not an ending, but a quiet becoming.
ENERGY
Reflective: Sitting at my desk with a candle, writing my thoughts down on paper. I like to keep many journals—>one for emotions, hopes, dreams, and one where I write down inspiring words, quotes from books I like, and song lyrics.
Unhurried: Having boundaries with work—>leaving Saturday to sleep in, stay in my favorite cozies until late morning, go for long walks with no where to be, and snuggles with my love bird.
Cocooned: Sleeping with my weighted blanket and turning on my heating pad 15 minutes before I crawl into bed.
Restorative: Taking warm bubble baths, lofi or jazz music with a warm glass of electrolytes, the window slightly cracked for a fresh breeze, and the lights dimmed or off.
MIND
Romanticizing daily rituals: Turning on French cafe music, warming up a cup of roasted green tea , with my happy light to nourish my circadian rhythm, snuggling under a blanket on the sofa, reading my favorite mag—FARE.
Practicing self compassion: Honor your boundaries. To honor your boundaries is to listen closely to the quieter signals: the fatigue that doesn’t lift with coffee, the irritation that arrives sooner than usual, the heaviness that settles when you say yes but mean no. These are not failures of resilience; they are invitations to pause. In Wintering, Katherine May reminds us that seasons of withdrawal are not detours from life, but essential chapters within it. Boundaries become the hearth in winter—the structure that holds warmth in and keeps the cold from seeping too deeply inside.
Creative Puttering: Going through books on my bookshelf, a few favs of the season—>Normal People—Sally Rooney, Northanger Abbey—Jane Austen, The Guide To Becoming Alive— Richard Christiansen, Help Your Self—Meredith Baird & Katerina Schneider , Linger —Hetty Lui McKinnon , Paella Omar— Allibhoy
BODY
Warmth: Seeking heat…wool socks, warm meals, warm showers, heated seats, candlelit rooms. Letting my body know it is safe, held, and allowed to soften.
Sunlight: Engage with something greater: Go for at least one nature walk a day, turn your phone on airplane mode to soak in all the senses around you without distractions.
Movement: Slower stretches, less intense workouts, intentional movement, mobility, posture alignment, pilates in my pjs, somatic practice—THE CLASS, and long walks. Meditation—OPEN.
Winter does not ask us to optimize—>It asks us to listen.
To notice what the body reaches for when it is finally given time.
To trust that rest is not a regression, but a form of intelligence.
To remember that tending—to warmth, to rhythm, to boundaries—is how we make it through intact.
If you need permission to slow down, let this be it.
If you are in a season of less, know that less can be empowering.
And if all you do today is keep yourself warm, fed, and gently held—
that is not falling behind.
XO, E