Snow days, icicles, hot tea and snow-capped trees. These are a few of my favorite things! Just kidding, I’m only a fan of the snow because I don’t have to be out in it. It is meant strictly for my viewing purposes and to feel cozy while drinking tea. As beautiful as it is, snow makes me feel a little trapped and that is unsettling.

I have been told a time or two that winter is meant for healing and rebirth. I get the rebirth part. I am still working on my 2024 goals, currently avoiding my quarterly marketing calendar, and planning what upgrades I want to do to a few spaces at home & work. Now is the time for a little rejuvenation to my tattered entrepreneurial spirit. I love to plan and organize, which is perfect for the winter season!

Healing

The healing part is a little harder for me this time though. When I was a younger mom this time of year meant indoor activities with my kiddos. We would cover the entire table in art supplies and paint our way out of a gray day. We would bake something yummy and put on a favorite movie on Sunday afternoon. Sometimes we would even go bowling! I miss that. That was healing for me. The house is quiet now, and I have a business to run, which takes up a lot of my time. During the warmer months I make time to do other things but not so much in the winter. Our world is not the same and I am struggling to decide on whether or not I see that as a good thing. Maybe it isn’t good or bad, maybe it just is. That is how change works, afterall. 

Community

There is a change that I am really starting to pay attention to though, and that is community. It is time I start building one for myself. I am all about volunteering but that keeps me at arm’s length, only engaging to the degree in which I am comfortable. Seeing all my lovely clients and customers at the shop is also a wonderful part of my world but it is still a gap there. Now it is time for me to start reaching out and asking others to join me as friends. That is damn difficult for a “severely independent” (as my sister-in-law once put it) person such as myself. To do this means I have to be okay enough with who I am to let some of my walls down. It means that the knowledge of my being a highly sensitive person can help me navigate conversations, thoughts, and opinions without taking offense. The hardest part is the vulnerability hangover that comes from opening up. I do not know if I can handle that…but I will try.

Winter is hard. The simple act of walking in and out of a door is interrupted this time of year. If that simple act is wrought with difficutly then you can rest assured other seemingly simple things will be too. I guess my hope is that I learn to have the same grace for myself as I do others. That if I am sad about being on my own so much I can be brave enough to reach out and find a kindred spirit. To trust that I have done enough healing to feel like I am worthy of having people in my life that will like and love me for who I am. I know that anyone who walks through my door is always welcome and treated with all the kindness I possess. I pray that is true in reverse. 

*Quick tips on how to handle vulnerability and the hangover it can produce:

1. Avoid focusing on people’s opinion of you. You are being genuine and more often than not I have found that it is greatly appreciated.
2. Give yourself some grace! I like speak my mind. That means if I am that blunt with you I will be that blunt with myself. Grace for each side is needed.
3. Letting someone know what you need is a good thing! This is not being volunerable so much as it is being upfront and honest. A good way to do some weeding if you ask me.
4. Give up perfection. I am not, you are not, they are not. Our quirks are some of the most endearing things about us.
5. Remember to laugh. Being yourself, talking too much, or being too open is NOT a bad thing. If you said something you later think was stupid then oh-well. Dollars to donuts, the other person has a list of stupid all their own.