New Year: A "Whispered Promise"
On embracing Winter and a gentle start to 2024 ✨
“The contrast between the sparkle of Christmas and the greyness of January, alongside the narrative of self-improvement, busyness and denial of the post-festive period meant that I used to intensely dislike the start of the year.
However, there is another way of looking at this blank slate. There is quiet potential in this time: its opportunity and whispered promise, our powerlessness in the face of nature. There is hope in it all – the regenerative power of the new year.” - Rosie Steer, ‘Slow Seasons’.
The “new year, new you” messaging begins just after Boxing Day and lasts for most of January. If we only tried harder, did this, bought that, stopped this, started that, we could magically transform into our ‘best selves’. Simultaneously we have the proliferation of personal and professional “year in review” round-ups, where nobody ever seems to stand still or have a quiet year.
Is it any wonder we can be left feeling blue at the thought of January stretching ahead? All this at a time when our bodies and minds are crying out for hibernation, in a season during which our ancestors would do the opposite of our ever-moving modern world: instead, they slowed, echoing the rhythms of the natural world and turning inwards, focusing on survival. Yule, Midwinter, was a time of fire and feasting yes - but also one of reflection, honouring the symbolic death and rebirth of the year.
As we head into the new year I’ll be taking my cues from nature: our ancestors long associated this period with hunkering down, regeneration and rest. Savouring the slowness of Winter. Society urges us forward to the next season and sadly robs us of the vital joy of the here and now. So this year I’m rebelling. I’m not beginning my new year until at least Imbolc - the start of Spring in Celtic folklore at the beginning of February - and maybe not even until Ostara, the Spring Equinox in March.
Instead, I’ll be watching the hours of daylight growing, minute by minute. I’ll be getting outside - whatever the weather - then returning home to nest some more. I’ll be making candles in my cosy kitchen, and planting Spring bulbs indoors. I’ll be spending Winter afternoons stirring a pan of simmering marmalade (and not stopping to take notes for recipe testing this time!). I’ll be reflecting kindly on the year just gone and, eventually, making gentle plans for longer, lighter days to come.
On the outside, it looks like 2023 was My Year - my debut book came out in October and I eloped with my partner of 15 years and got married in September - and so, so much of it was a dream come true. But outward “success” is so often the result of a huge, huge amount of hard work and commitment over a great many years, as well as the timing of the universe and things beyond our control, and I don’t think we talk about that enough! I am hugely grateful; I am tired. I am content; I am feeling the pressure of what’s next. I am a mass of contradictions and I don’t think I’m done processing this year, and maybe I never will? A huge thanks for being here with me through it all and here’s to the next chapter, whatever it may bring.
I am going to put some of my advice into practice, to harness the “whispered promise” of the new year. As ever, I will take my cues from the seasons. There is so much more of Winter to enjoy if we slow down and start noticing. This has taken me years, years of practice - and if you want a help and a guide then I certainly recommend you join us here or read Slow Seasons. The Winter chapters were among my favourite to write, and also the ones that I hope are most helpful for you, as I know that this can be such a tough time for many. I’ve been so touched by the many pictures and messages you’ve shared with me via Instagram of fresh copies of Slow Seasons being gifted and enjoyed over Christmas - so thank you, it really does mean the world.
I leave you with some words from Virginia Woolf that never fail to inspire me. I return to this quote often at this time and couldn’t resist sharing. I first came across these words when studying her diaries as an English student at St Andrews and all these years later - now teaching her novels to my Advanced Higher English class - Woolf’s resolutions, or non-resolutions, still resonate greatly. In fact, the older I get I’d say the more they resonate and encourage me to nurture my true, authentic self:
“Here are my resolutions for the next 3 months; the next lap of the year.
To have none. Not to be tied.
To be free & kindly with myself, not goading it to parties: to sit rather privately reading in the studio.
To make a good job of ‘The Waves’
To stop irritation by the assurance that nothing is worth irritation [referring to Nelly].
Sometimes to read, sometimes not to read.
To go out yes – but stay at home in spite of being asked.
As for clothes, to buy good ones.”
The Diary of Virginia Woolf, 1931.
So here are my “whispered promises”, inspired by Slow Seasons and by Woolf: to simplify. To practise self-compassion. To embrace one’s true, introverted being. To write and to read, often. To make the most of time spent at home. To know my own boundaries and worth. And yes, maybe to invest in nice clothes now and again…
Please do leave a comment to let me know if there’s anything you’d like to see in this space, either in my monthly newsletter that goes to all subscribers, or in my paid subscriber community each week. Speaking of which, here’s what I’ve been posting about there this month:
Slow Christmas: a Homemade Gift Guide
Sow, Grow, Harvest, Rest Book Group: December
I’m so grateful for all the follows, shares, likes and comments this year and always. Happy Hogmanay and all the best to you and yours for 2024.
And of course, here in the southern half of the world, we are glorying in the fact that New Year gives us summer and fresh summery food, gardens in bloom and a warm sea in which to swim. For me personally, it's important to acknowledge that there are two ways of life in the world and two ways to celebrate the New Year. Both can be lovely, and worth sitting quietly and being mindful of.
I never make resolutions and as I age, I just take the best of each day's offerings, no matter how small, and make something of it.
Have a gentle and safe 2024.
So beautiful. I too am resisting the conditioning to "take off running" in the new year. This is still the time for lots of added warmth - self kindness, hot beverages, meditative fires.