Nature Doesn't See Rest Like We Do

Rest isn't just napping or going to bed early. Maybe rest is more than we think it is.

This week it was so bitterly cold. The type of cold where your nose hairs froze when you took a breath and if your fingers weren’t covered you would feel the deepest cold enter your bones in moments. Even as a cold-loving person, it felt a touch far. We sunk in like the deer who burrowed into hollows under the pines in the snow and enjoyed some slow days. We still did some work and some laundry. We tended to the things on the walls of our own homes doing art projects, some organization, and other little tidbits of things. I thought of ourselves like a family of foxes in their burrow waiting out a snowstorm. It felt instinctual and natural. I also felt thankful for a deep enough winter to feel the edge of cabin fever and rest filling our days so easily.

The word rest has been one I have always struggled with. I am sure like me, you were raised in a society of women who were always doing. Always something to hold. Rarely seeing anyone just enjoy the cup of coffee or not marking something off a never list. I don’t know if I ever learned what the rest looked like. Even as I grew older, doing was a definition of purpose. If you were moving forward you could be placed in a direction. I didn’t sit still well and it only got worse as I became a mother. Years ago though when I realized I missed winter and the way it allows us to dig into deep work creatively and in myself, I began studying just what rest looks like.

It all started our first winter back in Michigan after having our son. Living at the end of a peninsula, before we moved to our current home, where only one road took us to town and nothing else was at our fingertips, we were like foxes in a burrow. Our days rhythmically set to the schedule of a 6-month-old and working remotely. I saw the ways winter was a season of rest, but I also began to see that rest wasn’t what culture has defined it as for me. I saw that in nature rest is not just something to be checked off, but it is the most important thing that occurs in the cycle of the seasons.

What I have learned is that rest isn’t just about sleeping or laying dormant on the couch under a blanket…though those are excellent ways to rest, it is only a part, not the whole, of what rest means. Instead, rest is a conversation with our intuition and body. It is about learning to intently listen to what our body needs.

At first, what I saw was that nothing was growing. The pines may be green, but even the plants in our home have slowed their growth as the cooler air is present and the humidity has lowered. The birds are rather quiet and the signs of life are minimal even in the frozen lakes. Particularly in January and February, our world for only a moment freezes and stops, yet that is only the surface. Though, once I dug in further I saw that though on the surface nature looked frozen in place and unproductive, it was doing immense work rejuvenating itself. With the work on top not happening under the surface the neglected but important work could be done so clearly and concisely that it would allow spring to occur in such a magical way. Like the time we spend sleeping in the night, we are observing nature do this as well. We even use this in medical ways like using a coma to help the brain heal. We are told to rest when we are sick. All of this mimics everything that is happening in nature.

So though these days of winter feel as if all life has stopped from continuing progress, anything but that is happening. Under the snow and ice, the roots, plants, and microbes are degrading, rebuilding, and working intently to rejuvenate for a season of intense growth ahead. Under the snow, the trees are digging deeper roots, making connections, and learning more and more about being here in our changing climate. It’s beautiful. Rather, it is magical when you think about it.

-25 degrees fahrenheit windchill created rainbows from the sun called Sun Dogs this week. Deep winter feelings are in full effect.

What I have learned is that rest isn’t just about sleeping or laying dormant on the couch under a blanket…though those are excellent ways t0 rest, it is only a part, not the whole, of what rest means. Instead, rest is a conversation with our intuition and body. It is about learning to intently listen to what our body needs. Do we need alone time? Do we need to go to bed early? Do we need to watch a movie and be close to a loved one? Do we need to move our bodies in a fun way? Do we need to eat certain foods? Do we need to stretch? What about dancing? How does that sound? Oh, maybe we need to cry and sing at the top of our lungs in the car? Rest is an act of learning more about ourselves and loving our bodies, minds, and souls even more each time with the more we learn. It is about hearing exactly what our body needs and giving it that. This is a radical thought in a world that values visual progress in whatever way you may see it.

I think rest in our society has been seen as inactive or lacking progress, but I have learned that nature sees rest quite differently. Instead, nature says, we intentionally will rest because nothing else matters without it. Rest is when the greatest work is done it just isn’t evident at the moment. Rest is how nature regenerates itself. This means that if we don’t take the time to learn to listen to our bodies and what it needs to rebuild what we have used we will exhaust the resources. After all, nature is renewable, but only with adequate time and attention to rejuvenate itself and we are the same as well.

Rest takes many forms. Even time out in nature skiing and watching the contours of the land is a form of rest and rejuvenation. Especially if it was what your body is aching for.

Entering the middle of winter now and settling into the routines of winter as a season, we must begin to work the muscle in ourselves to learn to adequately rest. We must take the time to hear our bodies for what they need. Anything can be the answer other than continuing to exhaust our bodies and minds. We must slow our pace enough in winter to accommodate time to at least hear what our body is asking for. What I have learned in listening to myself is that sometimes these things are as subtle as a food out of nowhere tasting good or just wanting to dance and move my body in the kitchen. Sometimes it is as simple as the craving for time with friends laughing. It also can be the way we may be looking for excuses to not doing something as well and asking why we feel the need to do it and why are we looking for an excuse. Sometimes it comes with just a tiny idea popping into our head “Oh working today on the couch under a blanket by the fire sounds so nice.” I started to just lean in and not resist those things. I have started to learn these tiny acts of listening are rejuvenating my body just like the trees driving roots they need to survive. I am doing the same.

Winter’s cold can either shiver us to the bone, leave us exhausted and run empty or we can use it to be the most life-giving and restful moment to build connection with self and our communities. I have found the difference between my best version of self and the lesser version can be defined by how I care for myself in these days of winter. Slowing my pace. Not overdoing anything. Most importantly though giving myself time to rest and rebuild so I can thrive when the sun calls me back outside again to splash in the waters and harvest from the garden.

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How to Rest Better This Winter

In the seasonal guide, I write about some ways to shift your day-to-day routines just enough to accommodate more listening to yourself and rest. Here are just a few of the ways I do it:

• Lean In: Whenever I think about something and it sounds nice to do, I make it a priority as soon as possible in the day.

• Stretch: I find that when I am struggling to hear my thoughts and needs doing some stretching with some calm music is a really good way to connect to myself. Sometimes I do this in the morning and even at night to just check in. Even mid-day before or after lunch I will take 5-10 minutes to stretch and breathe in a long day.

• Limit Your Tasks: I have kids, a puppy, and an elderly dog, and run a business while being at school but I see these things as the priorities of care on me. After that everything is extra. So this time of year when I need more space I am HIGHLY selective of the time away from these things because sometimes I just need an early night in bed or a movie with a cup of tea on a cold night or to be in the sauna. Leaving space in life this time of year is really nice. Don’t keep a packed schedule right now.

• Spend Time in Nature: This seems to be the cure for everything but it is so helpful to hear yourself. Today I felt after spending a lot of time outside yesterday, what my body needed was not to be outside much. Sometimes though our time in nature will help us see things in new ways or help us hear ourselves better.

• Journal: Not in a diary way. Just write things in your brain. Like whatever comes. It doesn’t have to make sense. What I find is writing allows things to flow that I wouldn’t give space to any other way. This can help you connect new dots of desires or thinking you maybe haven’t before.

• Remain warm: In winter when it is cold we need to be warm. Keep slippers and socks on. Wear a hat inside. Have a vest or light jacket that’s comfy nearby. When we don’t need to feel warm. We are more settled and can rest more.

• Pull out a puzzle: I find that when I place a puzzle on the table in winter, we all congregate there, we aren’t likely to find a device but will connect and talk there. Or even it is a nice place to think about something or just take time away from everything else while still feeling like I am “doing”.

• Make your bedroom the coziest and most calming place in the world to you: My bedroom is so important to me. I like it as calm, soothing, comfortable, minimal, and able to be held fully. Everything feels perfect in that space, especially in the winter. This way when I am resting it is the deepest and best rest for me. Bedside lights that have warm adjustable lighting. A place for a book and a warm drink. Blankets that ground you. All of it feels so good to be in that I ache to be there in the winter.

What are some ways you find yourself resting this winter? What do you struggle with about rest? Share in the comments!

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A film shot from our trip to Italy this fall. I was writing at this moment about the landscape there. I still think about so many moments from this trip. I loved the way to spoke so much about presence and simplicity.

On my mind this week

I have been thinking about a lot this week so here are a few things I thought I would share with you for your weekend.

• Patterns in Nature:
  I am back in school right now, and this week, we have been learning about patterns in nature, pattern languages, and more. As someone who loves order in nature, this is fun, to say the least. However, the thing that really blew my mind is the Fibonacci Sequence. This quick video provides a high-level, fun, and approachable look at it. It will make you look at everything in nature with a new eye. 
  

• Reading:
  I have been spending a lot of this winter reading already. I have stacks of various books right now. I have the book I read at night before bed which is currently Book Lovers by Emily Henry. In the morning I am reading Robin Wall Kimmerer’s newest book. Then at lunch, I usually read a book on forest farming from Chelsea Green Publishing right now. I have found being on social less has allowed me more time to navigate various books and it is nice. I just nabbed 3 more books to read this winter for fun from a thrift book store and am looking forward to it.
  

• Making Tea:
  If you know me well enough you probably have received tea from me. Every year I take what I have harvested from the garden and dried it and mix it into its own unique mixture that represents the flavors of our garden that season. I am behind on doing this but am hoping in the coming weeks to mix it up. I am looking forward to doing it.

• Painting:
  We set up an art space for the kids and Mike this last year but recently I have enjoyed spending more time in it as well. I have debated about getting back into painting for a while. I enjoyed it a lot in college, but it is fun to paint and just listen to music or chat with the kids. it is a calming way to spend the odd evening hours between school and dinner.

• Being Dyslexic:
  I go through ebbs and flows where this topic feels vital or I catch myself struggling in some way with insecurities around my dyslexia. Having a child with similar struggles seems to bring it to the surface more and more these days as we continually navigate what is best for them to feel confident, seen, and supported. I have many thoughts about this whole topic and how we approach it in our society. I find that sometimes there are both superpowers in being dyslexic and intense challenges as well.

• Community Garden:
  I have always loved the idea of being in a community garden. I love gardening, but I also love sharing the load of the work. I just recently brought up the idea to my neighbor about shifting our garden to a shared location. They are new to gardening, and so it feels like a great way to use all of our skills together. I would love to hear from anyone who has done something like this with neighbors or friends.

• Mobility:
  One way I have been spending my winter is working on mobility with my body. The more I get older the more I realize the importance of it. It feels so good to slowly increase this and to allow my body more space and new pathways of thinking I feel like. I have been focused on sessions designed for skiers right now because of the time of year, but in the coming months as the snow begins to disappear and be less nice, I will shift to more full-body sessions.

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