Kaylee’s Reviews > Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times > Status Update

“In the high summer, we want to be outside and active; in the winter, we are called inside, and here we attend to all the detritus of the summer months, when we were too busy to take necessary care.”

“In the depths of winter, we are all wolfish. We want in the archaic sense of the word, as if we are lacking something and need to absorb it in order to be whole again.” Ok so I could sob. This is exactly how I’ve been feeling, a sort of primal drive for the comfort and knowing of the past. “Underneath this chaos and clutter lies a longing for for more elemental things - love, beauty, comfort…”

“More than any other season, winter requires a sort of metronome that ticks away its darkest beats, giving us a melody to follow into spring.”

“Have we really gotten so far into the realm of electric light and central heating that the rhythm of the year is irrelevant to us, and we no longer even want to notice the point at which the nights start getting shorter again?” I’ve been thinking about this concept with everything that’s changed in my life this winter. I’ve been relearning how to rest and stop fighting the rhythm of biology and nature.

“But then, that’s what grief is—a yearning for that one last moment of contact that would settle everything.”