How slowing down doesn’t mean stepping back — it means returning
Journal Entry by Ella O
How many times have you treated winter like an inconvenience?
Because it’s dark, cold and moves at a slower pace of life than we’d like.
Seeing winter this way is a symptom of how detached we’ve become from the reason it exists, and from perfect synergy of nature. How about instead if we remembered that winter is not a pause in progress — but a portal into deeper truth?
In nature, nothing blooms all year long.
There is no endless harvest.
No constant output.
It happens like that because constant pushing, doing, achieving and trying is not only unsustainable, it is also injurious.
And yet, somewhere along the way, we internalised the idea that rest has to be earned.
We got caught up in the propaganda that quiet is unproductive. That momentum must be maintained above all else.
But the earth doesn’t sprint through the seasons.
She softens. She listens.
She lets things die.
She trusts that what rests now will rise later and when it does it will be as glorious if not more so than it was before.
There is no fear that slowing down, rest and stopping is something that will cause harm.
This is the energy of Winter — and it lives in you too.
If you’ve been craving silence...
If your body wants more softness than your schedule allows…
If your mind is slower to form the goals you “should” be setting for January...
It’s not a lack of motivation.
It’s a biological, energetic rhythm inviting you into your rest and recalibration cycle.
In this season, your breath doesn’t need to do more or fight for space.
It needs to go deeper.
Let the stillness reveal what’s been drowned out by the noise and being constantly on the go.
Let your nervous system root into the type of slowness it craves as a source of strength for you right now, and the type of strength that is cultivated gently over time.
Let this wintertime be wise through being time well spent on nurturing what lies beneath the surface for you, especially if that is something that has you running far from the maddening crowd.
Time in winter energy, in the deliberate alteration of the rhythm you follow in the rest of the year and is one of nature’s best secrets, hidden in plain sight.
Let her be a shining beacon of how to honour yourself too. In nature it is all perfectly set out for us to follow. But we’ve talked ourselves out of this flawless wisdom.
When you find yourself in step with the simplicity and effortless flow of this slower season…
You’re not falling behind.
You’re falling in.
And from within, in the quiet and in the stillness, all your best inspiration, clarity and action will be gently nurtured and awakened for what is required next.