10 Weeks of Winter
It’s the most wonderful time of the year…
A journal style blog exploring the pleasure and enjoyment of winter.
recent posts
start from the beginning
First Post — 10 Weeks of Winter: An Introduction
browse by topic or week
- 10 Weeks of Winter Project
- Christmas
- Cleaning and Clearing
- Coziness
- Creativity and Inspiration
- Health and Wellness
- Making Change
- Recipes
- Week 1
- Week 10
- Week 2
- Week 3
- Week 4
- Week 5
- Week 6
- Week 7
- Week 8
- Week 9
- Winter Food
- Winter Mood
- Writing
the author
Michelle is an American born Canadian resident of the Pacific Northwest, hobby writer, book lover, and generally of the autodidact polymath smattering of knowledge, skills, and interests.
Category: Making Change
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Starting slow… Humans don’t hibernate. Unlike the bear, we plow through the dark of winter attempting to maintain some kind of pace we kept up throughout the lighter parts of the year. Nevertheless, many of us who live in wintery places feel the pull of the long dark of midwinter and you’ll hear people say…
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Trust the process… We’re midway through the second full week of January, and I’m already feeling the pressure of ambitions, goals, and resets meeting the hard reality of constraints and limitations. There isn’t enough time, there isn’t enough energy, and it takes effort to take on more or make change. Personally, I’ve never learned how…
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Getting going… In the long morning dark of winter, when I intend to wake up and get going, the gravity of unconsciousness drags a stubborn resistance against my greatest intentions and strongest motivations. It’s like an ass pulling a cart in the opposite direction. It doesn’t care about the destination, it has a will of…
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Tired and sore… The first full week of January comes to a close, and many people are likely feeling the effects of a new workout routine or a compounding gloominess from living for several weeks now in the long dark of winter. The light is on its way. Evening is beginning closer to 5 PM…
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Roots… Somewhere in the cold dark silence of rest a place for dreaming waits like fertile ground to be planted. In the stillness of winter roots take priority over energy stores and systems. They emerge out of seed and bulb. They grow from tree and shrub down deeper reaching further into the subterranean world seeking…
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Opportunity… In these days between Christmas and New Years lies a natural opportunity for ease and peaceful contemplation. There is also opportunity for setting things in order, tidying up so to speak. The holidays aren’t quite over, but most of the excitement and events have passed. Monday arrives leaning back in toward the regular week,…
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Too many choices… I’m contemplating the new year. Not just to answer questions people ask about New Years resolutions. Not just because this is the time people do that sort of thing. I’ve been thinking about what I could do next year for a while, and, beyond that, I’ve been thinking about the next five…
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Rule of threes… Today marks the end of the first third of my 10 Weeks of Winter project and the beginning of the remaining two-thirds. I discussed the challenge inherent in thirds last week in the post Thirds of Change, but there is another aspect of thirds to consider when benchmarking, building, composing, or creating…
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Freezing… While the winter dark may have already arrived in the northern hemisphere, the season of winter has yet to begin. As mid-December approaches northern places grow wetter and colder, and eventually most are either intermittently or completely beset with ice and snow. The transition of fall into winter is one of freezing. The natural…
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Peace… Stillness and dark surround and fill the sleeping places. Bodies rouse to the suddenness of an alarm, warming internal temperature, or with brief attachment to the remaining reels of dreams that flash by and are forgotten. Wakefulness comes to the mind, whether wanted or not. The dark and quiet are soothing and call the…