A Time for Renewal

Challenging the assumption that life must continue as normal in winter.

We had about 20cm (8in) of heavy, wet snow here last night. I spent some time this morning enjoying the beauty of the snow on the trees outside my window. Then along came one of the neighbourhood joggers dressed in running shorts and shoes. He had a hat on, as a nod, so to speak, towards winter. But he was slipping and sliding on the barely plowed road — the sidewalks still haven’t been plowed. It made think about what Katharine May writes in her book Wintering. I’ve quoted one of my favourite bits below.

There seems to be an assumption that goes with the new year. Many of us think we have to get back to “normal” after the holidays (or start to exercise vigorously). We often ignore the weather if we live in a cold climate or grumble if it gets in our way when we want to go somewhere. I realize that not all of us are as fortunate as I am, with a roof over my head, a cozy home, lots of food, an adequate income, and the relaxed lifestyle of a retired person with no more deadlines to meet or urgent places to go. But what May writes about is, I think, a state of mind that we can all adopt, in one way or another. We can use the winter — even if it’s just a few hours or one day a week — to slow down a bit, think about life and how we want to prepare and adapt to whatever lies ahead in this current dysfunctional world. Can we all use this time to try and create a crucible for the renewal that will be required over the coming months?

“Plants and animals don’t fight the winter; they don’t pretend it’s not happening and attempt to carry on living the same lives that they lived in the summer. They prepare. They adapt. They perform extraordinary acts of metamorphosis to get them through. Winter is a time of withdrawing from the world, maximising scant resources, carrying out acts of brutal efficiency and vanishing from sight; but that’s where the transformation occurs. Winter is not the death of the life cycle, but its crucible.” ~ Katherine May - Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times

A tapestry I wove during the winter of 2024/25. © Wendy Priesnitz