I keep seeing memes about this weird liminal space during the time between Christmas and the New Year.
I wonder if it feels weird because we’re not used to slowing down like this, not accustomed to this pace of time and invitation to rest. As I write this, I watch birds sitting peacefully on the power line out my window and watch my cat’s back rise and fall slowly as she sleeps on her warm bed. Like most animals in the winter, she’s been sleeping more these days, and I am remembering the wisdom I learned from Katherine May in her book, “Wintering.”
”Plants and animals don’t fight the winter,” she writes, “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.”
I wonder what it would mean for me to not fight the winter, but to accept the changes and adjust accordingly. What if this week is meant to be a cocoon, a deep, quiet reprieve from the speed and noise of our lives?
What if we heed the wisdom of Wintering and do as Katherine May suggests: to treat ourselves like a favored child, with kindness and love, to assume our needs are reasonable and that our feelings are signals of something important? She writes, “Doing those deeply unfashionable things—slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting—is a radical act now, but it is essential. This is a crossroads we all know, a moment when you need to shed a skin.”
This is the last OOH LA LA! I’ll send in 2024.
I started this weekly writing project earlier this year during a time when I really needed some hope to hold onto. I never could have guessed what the rest of the year would bring, but on this last Friday in 2024, I am grateful for it all - the heartbreak, the lessons, the wonder, the surprises - I’ve certainly experienced many crossroads and I’m here now, during this pause of winter, to rest and reflect on what’s been and prepare for what’s to come.
Mostly, I am doing nothing very much, and I am wishing the same for you.
Cheers to 46 weeks with you. And many more to come!
My OOH LA LA! list for the week includes: listening to a tv show, people greeting each other, cold air on my face.
When my brain feels busy, I like to fall asleep to sound. Sometimes an audio meditation will do, but most of the time I need something with more of a story to really captivate my mind. Audiobooks are cool, but often my brain will skip past the monotony of one voice and right back to thinking. The only real answer is listening to a tv show with my eyes closed. I know it’s a weird way to consume media meant to be visual, but listening to Tina, Gene, and Louise make some silly plan on Bob’s Burgers soothes my looping mind every time.
On my walks in my neighborhood this week, I’ve been delighted to witness people greeting each other. The streets are quiet during this holiday time, and there’s a feeling of lightness in the air. On more than one walk, I’ve watched friends arrive at an apartment door and squeal with excitement as they hugged the friend waiting for them. I’ve seen small children wobble down the sidewalk into a beloved’s arm and walked by lovers kissing goodnight. If energy is everything, then even just witnessing a moment like this means I’m whisked into the energy of love too, embraced by the world.
Now that I’ve regained my cold-weather walking skills and remembered how to properly layer attire for the winter, I can once again enjoy the bliss of cold air on my face. When my body is warm, the feel of cold air on the only exposed skin on my body is a welcome treat, a little blast that wakes me up to the day, to the moment, to the beauty of the seasons. I was walking on Tuesday when snow was falling heavy, each step a crunchy, careful calculation. I lifted my chin to the sky and closed my eyes, a surrender to the infinite everything, bigger than me.
Thanks for reading and for being here! It really means so much!
Reply to this email with a few sentences about your OOH LA LA! moments or experiences and I’ll share in the next email!
XOXO,
LJ
xoxoxoxo!!
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I love that picture of you!