A New Year- Easing In

Don’t just do something; sit there.
Sylvia Boorstein

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.
Albert Camus

I went for a walk one morning with the plan to explore a neighbourhood and try a new coffee shop. After a while though, I realized that what I really wanted was to return home and sit with a coffee in a comfortable chair and look out the window.  And that is what I did on a cold January day.

December, the season of overindulging, rushing around, and expanding to do lists, is busy.  I look forward to gatherings with family and friends, festivals of light, and the sense of generosity and goodwill that shows up much of the time.  But when December is over, I’m ready for a change in pace.

January bids us to enter life in the slow lane.  It’s a pleasing form of hibernation that I welcome and call Easing In.

For many, January gray days are marked by low temperatures, low energy, and low mood.  It is ironic then, that the beginning of the New Year is associated with DOING something. The “doing” usually translates into replacing bad habits with ones designed to keep us goal directed, on schedule, and in tip top shape- quickly!   Why on earth would we want to plunge into something ambitious and grand that consumes a lot of energy we don’t have?

I’m convinced people who embrace January as the time for making immediate and large-scale change eventually realize its futility. Besides, they only end up irritating the rest of us.

The difficulty for me is that letting go of plans and the “to do” list removes a reassuring anchor in the day.  Being the “list” person that I am, I find myself pulled between taking it easy and acting on what sounds like a great idea.  There’s a certain comfort in committing to paper earnest intentions that will move me to a different place.  Doing nothing takes me nowhere. Will I enter the land of perpetual languishing and dwell there forever?  Will this be the path to sloth and gluttony as the temperature outside plummets?  

Time can stare you down if there is not much to do- or more precisely, stuff that doesn’t matter much. It is in the quiet moments that the pesky voice in my head awakes from slumber and rattles around, intruding on sleep and distracting with relentless dialogue. I hear it all: stuff undone, stuff to do, relationships in need of repair, and seemingly inconsequential thoughts with no relation to the current moment.  Listening long enough reminds me of that which is “long ignored or denied or forgotten.”*  No wonder I want to do something.

In the end, amidst the gray days of January, I resist jumping into something. Deep down, I already know the best approach to getting anywhere is to pause for awhile.

Responsibilities and obligations don’t go away, but I shift my focus. I am gently entering the new year.  Taking my time, going for walks without a destination in mind; conversations with close friends; and enjoying a good book under a warm blanket with a cup of tea. A homemade cookie with it would be nice.

That is what January is for me- a time of easing in that I want to be nourishing, comforting, and so un- goal directed.  

Fields benefit from lying fallow for awhile. Perhaps January is just another field. It’s an opportunity to gather our energy and prepare by actively remaining in place: listening, attending, and welcoming the pesky voice and the disparate thoughts and wild ideas floating around in our heads that eventually settle into a quiet peace and find a field of inspiration that may take us far.  

Let us embrace this time of year!

The quote is from Joan Chittester’s 2015 book, Between the Dark and the Daylight. Embracing the Contradictions of Life. My thanks to A.C. for inspiring this blog post.